Day 145 Bright Silence

May 3, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

The magic lantern in the sky, the one that inspires romance, is 238,900 miles away. Tonight I looked up at a bright full moon, so far away, yet bright enough to light the way on a late night walk in the neighborhood. This moon shines on more than seven billion people on the earth. As of this very moment, the moon is shining on 376,000 new babies and its light has been extinguished for 155,000 humans. 

It shines on the Afghani woman in a burqa and on Paris Hilton swimming naked in her pool. It shines on the elephant in Botswana’s Chobe National Park and on the puggle at the end of the leash in San Francisco.  It shines on the shell-shocked Palestinian child living in the rubble of the family’s Gaza home and on the child living in an elegant New York condo. It shines on a 16-year-old teenager living in west Baltimore and another teen living in Potomac, Maryland. 

Tonight I thought about how beautiful the silence of the moon is. The family of humankind shares the same lunar experience. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all share peace too? Perhaps if we became the silent moon and listened, we might be a little closer to understanding. 

See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…we need silence to be able to touch souls. ~ Mother Teresa

My gift today is the full moon.

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> Day 146  Smalltimore

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html