My mind is far away.
There's that mysterious asteroid belt that circles the sun between Mars & Jupiter. I'm trying to wrap my mind around it. Although they're just measely asteroids, oughtn't we consider them planets as well? After all, they've been given names. But I'd sure hate to memorize those names. My brain doesn't hold very much information at once.
And moons: They revolve around planets. But they also revolve around the sun, so why don't we consider moons to be planets in and of themselves? Well, perhaps because there needs to be an order in all things, and calling these bodies "moons" is much more specific to their function.
And I'm trying to sort out my thoughts as to whether or not NASA astronauts really did land on Earth's moon that summer in 1969. I was taught that they did and was given no reason to question it.
In the fifth grade (1985) I had a science-minded teacher who taught us with great passion about the marvels of the universe, as much as humans know about. With excitement and great knowledge she described how far science has come in such a short time. She told us about our space shuttles , and man-made satellites, Hubble and space travel.
She even entered NASA's contest to be the first teacher in space...but when our whole school watched the news in horror the morning that space shuttle exploded, we were all glad she wasn't on board.
In teaching us about our own moon and its wonders, she said that there are some ignorant people who think that NASA didn't actually travel there, and that the photographs they came back with had all been staged in a studio, to include the photograph of Earth as seen from the surface of the moon.
A student asked, "Why would people think that we didn't land on the moon?" She flatly said that people who doubt that we landed on the moon are the same people who still think that the world is flat. She said it with some facetiousness, so we caught her drift without taking her too literally.
Her passion on matters of science and the universe was infectious, and I'm sure that every one of her students kept a piece of that with them.
A few years ago there was some sort of nay-saying documentary on TV that attempted to expose all of the blunders in the supposed lunar landing of 1969. Although I didn't see the documentary for myself, I recall that enough stink was raised about it that I did catch tidbits of it on the news or online or whatever.
All I can ask for now is a powerful telescope so that I may see for myself whether or not there is a US flag perched on the moon. I want to see the astronauts' footprints. After all, there's no wind on the moon. Wouldn't reason lead to suggest that the flag and the footprints would still be there all these decades later if they ever were there in the first place?
My own mind is so small, and I'm only grateful that there are people in the world who have enough brains and money to tackle these hard questions. I wish I were among those people.
And this is just me sitting here thinking. I've done no research because research gives me a headache and I can never be sure which sources are reliable. Even Carl Sagan threw me off with his daydreaming. I could never be sure if what he was teaching was fact or if it was just his own wandering mind taking us on a far-fetched trip. I am sad that his final work was a mere novel.
So many people state their theories as fact. That really screws with my head. I want to know things for myself.
I do love Stephen Hawking though. But again, my brain can't wrap around much of what he says, even his books that were written for the layperson. My mind is below the level of a layperson. I do soak in as much as I can from him though, if only for a moment.
So here I sit, stuck in my own little head. Pondering the mysteries of the universe and wondering why the heck I have nothing to do in my life but tedious chores when there are so many more interesting things out there.
But here I am, a Mommy. My life and mind are on indefinite hold as I'm required to revert my mind to that of a two-year-old. I spend my days inside his head, always straining to teach him about the world in the ways that are most understandable to him. I try to watch him and know when he is ready to expand on the ideas and learn more. He's known his alphabet for quite some time, and I started to realize that I should have taught him the sounds that the letters make (rather than just the alphabet itself), because all he'll do is read each letter. He loves doing it. All around the house, all around town, he recites letters & numbers without any concern of their significance. But when I pronounce the letters and words for him, his mind shuts down and he moves on to something else. So I'm patiently waiting for those little teaching moments that will expand his understanding. Then someday we can contemplate the mysteries of the universe together. We'll take it one step at a time.
Gosh, I read back over that and I sure sound like I'm ramming education down my son's throat. The teaching moments only consist of two minutes here, two minutes there. I catch all his cues to see how much he's ready for, and when he's had enough. I miss a lot of cues too. I just have to watch him to catch those learning moments. What do you expect me to do, sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to him over and over again? No thanks.
