Honoring our sun

Ben Sadkowski/News Editor

I believe in humanity’s sacred connection to the sun. Both metaphorically and literally, it provides me with a moment of clarity and allows me to take a fresh perspective.

Too often, though, we take the sun for granted—as nothing more than a piece of furniture that we automatically inherit with our arrival into life on Earth. With Wal-Mart and Target down the road, what more is it than a ride in the car and the swipe of a credit card to acquire everything we need to nourish ourselves? Such apparent ease leaves us with no gratitude set aside for the raging ball of hydrogen and helium that ensures our survival.

Yet with or without our gratitude, the sun clearly affects us, either directly or through a winding route through the food chain. Physically and chemically, the sun permits plants to nourish themselves, and then nature works its way up—the route being usually that in order for something to live, something else must die.

Even without effort, as we step outside, the rays of ultraviolet light striking our skin catalyze our bodies into synthesizing Vitamin D. Mentally, we also benefit from the sun’s presence and warmth. In winter, many feel that its absence and so we construct lamps that mimic the its light in order to chase away winter depression. No matter of our attitude toward the sun, we all invariably benefit from it.

The sun can help us realize that we are both tiny in the face of the universe and yet we are all interconnected. Regardless of our skin color, income, or religious beliefs, we are all dependent upon the same fiery orb that rises and sets every day with uncompromising consistency, and it will persistently continue long after we are gone.

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