I remain in awe of the natural world, and in disappointment at the rate it appears to be disappearing. I remember the night skies alive with stars when I was a kid. When I step outside my door now to show my own kids the stars, they are now few and far between. Granted I grew up in rural England and now I live in suburban Houston, but not all forward advances constitute progress.
For the eleven years I pursued a career in land seismic surveying, on pretty much every day in the field I was up before sunrise and still working after sunset. I would joke that I hadn't wanted a 9-5 office job upon graduating university, so I took a pre-sunrise to post-sunset job in the field instead.
I captured this sunset a week or two after I crashed the boss's car. I was struck by the cloud formation at the higher altitude. Below it is another layer of thin clouds giving the patches with less clarity.
It remains amazing to me that these same skies were gazed upon by the first humans and makes me wonder at what point in our evolution did we actually develop to the point where we'd sit down and just marvel at the scene of the setting sun.
And having mentioned the setting sun, since today is Memorial Day in the U.S. the forth stanza of ‘For the Fallen' by Laurence Binyon seems a fitting way to remember and honor all the servicemen and their families who have served and sacrificed to enable the opportunities we enjoy today:
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
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