The Simple Moon

I took this photo while on a cruise in the Bahamas.  It is simply the moon resting in the sky over the endless ocean.  At that moment, I felt really small but I also felt special to be able to see something so simple yet so beautiful.  It's amazing how such simple things can mean so much.

In antiquity, different peoples worshiped the sun, the moon, the trees, storms, and many other things.  They were celestial and earthly phenomena that were easily explained my mythology and religion.  People were in awe of such things thousands of years ago, and, though I haven't really been before, I am now in awe of the moon for a very different reason.

About a month ago, two of my friends came back from Afghanistan.  They told me stories of things they had seen and experienced.  They told me about their down time (what little they had).  They even told me about their culinary exploits half way around the world.  Everything that they said just seemed surreal to me.  I've never experienced anything like they have, and personally hope that I don't.  However, I am proud of them for doing what they do and helping those overseas.  I don't care how people may feel about war and the US presence in other countries.  I know how I feel, and I also know that the people that my friends described were overwhelmingly thankful for what they were doing.

As they told me numerous stories, many of them I will probably forget.  Some I will remember, but there is one thing that they both said that was unequivocally humbling for me.  When they would go outside on a clear night, they could look up at the sky and, even though there was imminent danger just down the road, they could see the moon.  When they saw the moon, they realized that it was the same moon that everyone else was seeing back home.

Some stories are sad; some stories are happy.  No matter how it touches you; if a story touches you, I think you will remember.  Now, every time that I look up at the moon, I know that it is the same moon that everyone else sees.  The soldiers on foreign soil, my friends in St. Louis, my family all across the US are all looking to the same moon, and that touches me and gives me peace.  So, if you have the opportunity, take a glance at the moon tonight and reflect.  It may make you think that those peoples in antiquity were on to something.