Perspective
"Consider this: You can see less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum and hear less than 1% of the acoustic spectrum. As you read this, you are traveling at 220 km/sec across the galaxy. 90% of the cells in your body carry their own microbial DNA and are not “you.” The atoms in your body are 99.9999999999999999% empty space and none of them are the ones you were born with, but they all originated in the belly of a star. Human beings have 46 chromosomes, 2 less than the common potato. The existence of the rainbow depends on the conical photo-receptors in your eyes; to animals without cones, the rainbow does not exist. So you don’t just look at a rainbow, you create it."
NASA Lunar Science Institute, 2012
![“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” Martin Luther King, Jr. // I’ve been reading the Harry Potter series for the first time since the books came out. I vaguely remember how, at the age of twelve, I was aware that some parents didn’t want their children to read the books. I thought it was about the magic - the occult, if you will. But reading the books now, the parallels to what is happening in our country and across the world are...staggering. At the age of twelve I didn’t understand systemic racism, privilege, nativism, or authoritarianism. I barely understood the nuance of power - the idea that one group of people decides (historically has decided) who is worthy of personhood. That it took me so long to understand this reveals my inherent privilege. I’m now towards the end of the fifth book. In it Dumbledore describes the house elf, Kreacher and his relationship to Sirius. He says, “ Kreacher is what he has been made my wizards...Sirius did not hate Kreacher, he regarded him as a servant unworthy of much interest or notice. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike...The [monument] we destroyed tonight told a lie. We wizards have mistreated and abused our fellows for too long, and we are now reaping our reward.” Tonight, as I think of Dr. King’s legacy, and the images from the Indigenous Peoples’ March this weekend - as I think of the cultural undercurrent that far surpasses indifference and neglect, my hope is that we might all (especially those in positions of traditional power) wake tomorrow and ask ourselves in what ways we do in fact hold positions of power - earned or not. And in what ways might we give some of that power away. How might we make the world a little more equal and little more kind. How might we recognize the humanity of other individuals - all individuals - particularly those who have been denied that basic right for far too long.](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54b44e54e4b0e0bd0ebfbe00/54bd2a70e4b0c2c1faf430ce/5c468197a8d7a5a9f7f3493c/1548124576354/)