Star Gazing

Have you ever sat outside at night under a sky filled with twinkling stars? What do you think about when you look at the stars? Do you feel small in comparison to the universe above you, or is your focus on something else altogether? Describe your thoughts under a starry sky.

I don’t sit under the stars and gaze at them very often, but every once in a while I will. I used to do it more frequently when I was younger, or at least just look up at the moon. As a child, before I really knew what the moon was, I actually thought it was the Earth, and somehow I was seeing it as some kind of big mirrored reflection. The craters didn’t match up exactly like the shapes of the continents, but I thought the reflection might be like one of those fun house mirrors that distorts your body in some way. This belief that I was staring up at myself was entertaining to think about, and I always remember thinking that when I stare up at the moon and the stars.

I think it was my mom who told me that as a child, she thought there was a moon version of herself and everybody she knew, and that it was somewhat a copy of Earth. That would be interesting, although since we have been to the moon so many times, I am fully aware there are no people living on the moon.

Looking at the stars however, I tend to think about “what’s out there.” I used to watch The X-Files every weekend with my parents. I loved that show. While it is highly regarded as science-fiction and not real, there are times when I wonder “what if.” I don’t make claims by any means, but to think Earth is the only planet with intelligent life, or life at all for that matter, seems a bit odd. The universe is so large, and looking up at all of those stars that are millions or billions or hundreds of billions of miles away, I tend to think there are other things out there that humans don’t know about. But that’s not what I typically think about when I look at the stars; it is only an occurrence I think about when I’ve recently seen a sci-fi show or randomly think about what a family friend said about alien life.

What I normally think about when looking at the stars is the same thing I think about when I’m just by myself