{"id":21717,"date":"2012-09-04T00:08:13","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T07:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=21717"},"modified":"2012-09-04T00:08:13","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T07:08:13","slug":"night-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/21717","title":{"rendered":"Night Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tIt’s one of those days when I’m anxious to see things from a different angle. Travel will do that to a person.<\/p>\n

Headstand?<\/p>\n

Hmmm \u2026 I think not.<\/p>\n

Mountaintop?<\/p>\n

Maybe.<\/p>\n

Do you ever have one of those days?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I feel like shakin’ things up,<\/p>\n

spinning around, gigglin’ a little.<\/p>\n

Maybe\u00a0look at my\u00a0life through a magnifying glass,<\/p>\n

or a telescope \u2026<\/p>\n

Maybe a kaleidoscope?<\/p>\n

A fresh perspective; that’s what I’m wanting.<\/p>\n

It’s easy to get stodgy, despite our best intentions.<\/p>\n

While I’m busy worrying <\/em>about the chemicals in our food supply, I forget to savor the gift of nourishment.<\/p>\n

Have I planted myself so firmly in my beliefs and opinions that I’ve lost sight of the big picture?<\/p>\n

It’s\u00a0easy to fret about the future of the planet, and then forget to appreciate the miracle of being here.<\/p>\n

Time for a wake-up call,<\/p>\n

A shake-up call.<\/p>\n

Ask, and ye shall receive \u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"

Satellite photo of North America’s night lights, courtesy of NOAA.<\/p><\/div>\n

This dazzling photo, taken from space, illuminates something about civilization that stirs me.\u00a0I find myself seeing my homeland, my people,\u00a0from a brand new perspective\u2014somewhere up among the stars\u2014and it reaffirms my sense of connectivity to, well, everyone.<\/p>\n

Yes, it’s a birds-eye glimpse of too many bulbs burning, but there’s no denying the bright, colorful beauty of this sparkling scene. If I look at it without cynicism, I see a glowing beacon at the end of a dark and lonely road. I see porch lights abuzz with late-summer moths. There are softly lit stained glass windows in quiet churches, and flashlights ablaze beneath the blankets of little readers who are supposed to be asleep.<\/p>\n

I see humanity, and it lights the chambers of my heart.<\/p>\n

Perspective is everything.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s one of those days when I’m anxious to see things from a different angle. Travel will do that to a person. Headstand? Hmmm \u2026 I think not. Mountaintop? Maybe. Do you ever have one of those days? Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[549],"class_list":["post-21717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gift_for_gab","tag-maryjanes-gift-for-gab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}