What a wonderful world
November 17, 2010 (Wednesday)
I was in the parking lot of a store in Aransas Pass, dropping my purchases into the trunk of my car when the man getting into the truck in the adjoining space spoke. He said, “Hello.” I replied, “Hello. How’s everything going?” As he opened the door of his vehicle, he paused, smiled, and said, “Doing great! Just another day in paradise. Right?” He was sincere. And he echoed my feelings.
As I drove back to Rockport, I took a second look at the world around me. I thought of the song, “What a wonderful world:” “I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom, for me and for you, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world. I see skies of blue, clouds of white, bright blessed days, dark sacred nights, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.” On the song goes, expressing gratitude for the wonderful world we live in.
I know there are billions of galaxies, containing billions and billions of stars like our sun, and there must be billions of planets like those in our own solar system, but I don’t think it is logical to assume there is another planet like this one. There are so many things that come together on this planet to make life possible that the likelihood of its being here, supporting life of so much variety, is extremely remote. For instance, if the earth moved a little closer to the sun, everything would burn up. A little farther away and everything would freeze. The earth is tilted on its axis, not only creating the seasons, but also maintaining balance in our climate. Water is everywhere, and invisible magnetic energy keeps solar radiation from killing all of us. On and on we could go, demonstrating the uniqueness of Planet Earth. What a wonderful world.
