PREPARING FOR A BIG EVENT: SHORT STORY

Sometime life hands us something unexpected.  How well we handle the situation often depends upon a number of different circumstances.

Sometime the change can be in the place we live.  Some time it can  be because of economic or political times or because of new relationships.

How well we are prepared to deal with change could  depend upon the honesty
of information available to us  and how accessible that information is to everyone.

Here in Missouri and across the nation the information about the great Solar Eclipse which crossed the
 path of so many people was an example of how well we as people will respond with excitement and enthusiasm when given reasonable, accessible information.

I first learn ed of the great Solar Eclipse of 2017 when a friend mentioned it in 2015.  Since that
time and now, information about planetary movement has flowed across the country from national organizations like NASA, Astronomical and Sun Dial organizations as well as task forces and regional exhibits manned by  thousands of volunteer citizens, teachers and students, business and professional people, men women and children,

Hours were spent planning scientific experiments, distributing free safety glasses and providing training and loan of telescopes to public libraries and schools.

The information and constructive activity spurred much needed interest in education, science and
technology uniting people in disparate regions and neighborhoods often unfamiliar to each other.

My short story begins in Perryville, MO , two days before the Total Solar Eclipse of 2017.

The city is about 90 miles southwest of St. Louis.  Its government services are housed in a
decorative building below a tall bell tower and steeple in the center of the town square.

It was there that  a team of people came together three days before the great Solar Eclipse of 2017 to unveil a Sun Dial mounted on a pedestal made from limestone from a local quarry and polished
to a lovely rose color.  On the Sundial were plaques which named the people who had
created and facilitated the sundial which now records each hours' movement.

In front of the audience of excited town people, was a tented platform for the dignitaries.  Among them were members of the local newspaper, video and radio press, elected and appointed members of the County Commission and Town, and the quarry from which the stone for the pedestal was selected.

The square for the ceremony was surrounded by vendors with food, refreshments, carts with souvenirs for sale, balloons, people in costumes, out of town visitors, children, teens and elderly people with canes all surrounding the tented platforms. Local and state police officers were there.

Each of the dignitaries offered welcoming remarks as did the designer and sculptor of the Sun Dial.

Unknown to those in attendance were the hours of planning, work and creative thinking that went into the event.  Much of it done in the spirit of respect, harmony and the willingness to work and listen to
"others," sometime missing when we talk or work with  each other.

All of this was recalled by me as I watched  the Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 when the moon overtook the sun. I wondered at our human ability to feel awe and to put in place our humility
as a nation sharing this planet with "others."

Yes, IT IS A BIG EVENT!

On August 21 at 10:20 (P.D.T) a threatening band of blackness will come to Salem Oregon.  It will  be approximately 70 miles wide and travel at great speeds across the country. It will travel from

large cities to small towns creating great wonderment as the SUN vanishes from the sky.

The "blackness" or the moment of totality as it is called by scientists and other planetary watchers will be created by the Total Solar Eclipse of 2017. *

In addition to the State of Oregon it will pass over national and historic places in the State of Wyoming
before it heads on to Alliance, Nebraska where it goes toward Carbondale, ILL, hovers over the
Appalachian Trail in North Carolina and heads for Columbia and Charleston, S.C. where at approx.
2:30 (P.M. E.D.T.) the Totality of the Great Total Solar Eclipse will head to the Atlantic Ocean.

This event has created an atmosphere of great anticipation. Some of it a rare opportunity for all of us
young and some abled some disabled in our homes, or in centers or in jail, or on street corners as some of it hovers over state and national offices, some over land and water some often in dispute.

It will cross over schools, highways and bridges, some in need of major repair others equipped with
the latest technology.  Over religious and secular buildings some in gated gardens others boarded up.

It will cover roadways, from rural roads to six-lane highways, some being repaired others in need of repair.  It will keep pace with railways and in some cases overtake others.

Visitors from foreign lands other states and cities will come  seeking information and help from home owners, local and state police departments, hospitals and medical treatment.

Prepared or not, like the child's hide and seek game, The Total Solar Eclipse will be here in less than two weeks time.  In spite of the efforts of those in the scientific community, philosophers,
astronomers, engineers to  lay volunteers, there are still people not sure about how to view the
Eclipse safely nor how to understand the significance of all we are about to see.

We have been been preparing as if to go to war.  What if we took an advantage of the sense of community and listen to the quiet while trying to understand the strange rustling of the wind as  animals
and birds seem to take flight?

What if we simply felt renewed in spirit and realized how connected all things are to each of us and
how precious is life everywhere?

                                       ________________________________

*For more information go to:

    GreatAmericanEclipse.com