Oh my God! Look, if you wear these special glasses, the Sun looks a little bit more like the Moon! (Gasp) It’s getting almost imperceptibly darker outside? Holy smokes! It’s 7-9 degrees colder right now than it was a half hour ago!
Look, I don’t mean to be such a curmudgeon, but it’s who I am. Why fight it? Maybe it’s time I just accepted it and let my inner cynic dance on the stage of life. Maybe I should just give myself free reign to tell the world to “get off my lawn”.
I cognitively understand that this eclipse was something of a “once in a lifetime” event, but in a sense, so is almost everything. Have you ever seen a stranger get punched in the face? It’s amazing. You know what else is a once in a lifetime event? Dying. Shitting your pants on the Masterpark shuttle. Rushing to urgent care for an STD test on a Saturday morning. Sobbing on an airplane while watching “A League of Their Own”. Watching the clock strike 10:11am on December, 13, 2014. Seeing the Mariners win a playoff game. Seeing your odometer tick over to 222,222.22 miles. Miraculous and unique things happen every day as do the most meaningless and banal of coincidences. That’s part of life.
But that’s not the point here. The point is I was in a park laying in the grass with Emily yesterday, wearing cardboard goggles and watching the moon gradually and anticlimactically block 90% of the sun with hundreds of other strangers.
(Bear with me, I realize I’m being the wettest of wet blankets here, but it’s going to get better. I’m an “optimistic cynic.”)
One of the hot topics of conversation in the world of sports is the kneeling of players during the national anthem. Several black NFL players have knelt during the national anthem to protest the unequal treatment of black Americans under the law. It has become an issue that has divided teams and fan bases alike. Sports talk radio is chock full of callers vowing to boycott the league while others lend their support.
Last weekend, an abhorrent group of White Supremacists protested (among other things) the removal of a symbol of slavery from city grounds. Their protest turned violent and they killed another human being. It was horrific, tragic and disgusting as was the presidential response to the violence.
A few weeks back, a Google employee was fired for instigating a discussion on the differences in biological gender in career choice and how the diversity policies of Google have created an echo-chamber that reduces ideological diversity.
Every day, I read highly charged articles lambasting one side of the political spectrum or the other. I see friends fighting friends for their political views. I see people that have so much in common focused entirely on their differences.
I see us separating ourselves into various identity factions. You’re a woman. You’re black. You’re a Jew. You’re Muslim. You’re an immigrant. You’re a white male. You’re trans. You’re gay. You wear red. You wear blue. You like mayonnaise. You are right. You are wrong. You have more. You have less.
For a few hours yesterday, we embraced the American ideal. We stopped focusing on our differences. While everyone was looking to the sky, I looked around and saw a community of people of different races, religions, genders, socioeconomic statuses, sexual preferences and ages all engaged with one another and sharing in something unique. It was beautiful.
Amidst all the division and juxtaposed against a society brimming with reasons to push one another away, this eclipse was a breath of fresh air.
I’m tired.
I’m tired of hearing how divided we are. I’m tired of hearing how irreconcilable our differences are and how my identity is at odds with yours.
This eclipse doesn’t have to be a once in a lifetime event. It can be something that we create every day.