awe of the eclipse

Along with thousands and thousands (and thousands) of others, I packed my car with blankets and chairs, filled the gas tank, prepared a days’ worth of snacks, and drove into the path of totality this spring. The total solar eclipse of 2024 took me in.
 
As we drove across state lines and saw the modified traffic patterns, welcoming signs, and warnings about delays, I questioned what was calling the crowds to witness this four-minute event.
 
What answer did I come up with? Maybe…as a population, we have figured out how to take control of so many things that a circumstance executively produced by nature is one of the last of the untouched frontiers. If humankind could figure out how to control the sun and moon, we would. But we have not. And therein lies a loss of power, an awe to something stronger than our own understanding, and a phenomenon that is out of reach.

​We are either fascinated or annoyed.
 
I land among the fascinated and wish to leave nature alone to keep doing what it does best – send us the awe.