Tuesday, July 14, 2015
New Horizons
Most of our days will be forgotten. A disturbing conclusion, perhaps, but one that anyone reading these words can easily confirm based on their own experience. Think back to yesterday. Do you remember what you did? Do you know what you ate for breakfast, where you traveled, the activities in which you engaged, and the people you met?
Some of you, having excellent memories, will be able to respond affirmatively to the all of those questions. Outstanding. Let's repeat the exercise, moving back two weeks earlier. How about three days before that? How much detail can you actually recall? In the absence of an especially disciplined mind (think Sherlock Holmes) or rock-solid habits (i.e. a diarist who records his thoughts with far greater frequency than the author of this blog), the days tend to blur together. We can point to general trends without too much difficulty but the specifics fade into the background.
Among the quota of days that each of us are assigned, however, are a handful that stand out, either due to the significance we assign to them ourselves or the especially memorable actions of outsiders. Even minor moments--scoring well on a test, embarrassment in front of one's peers, even holding hands with a loved one--can take on lasting resonance.
Birthdays fit into both categories. Many of us tend to assign far greater significance to them than they rightly deserve. After all, there's nothing particularly special about the number of times that a person has traveled around the sun. Yet they also provide an occasion for friends or relatives to do nice things on our behalf, either through the giving of tangible gifts or simple acts of kindness. In this way, they tend to provide a greater opportunity for the formation of sharper memories. There is no guarantee that we will remember every birthday, but it is perhaps more likely that birthdays will be memorable.
In the final hours of this, my 34th birthday, I am already certain that it will be among the handful of days I am likely to recall for the rest of my life. Part of this is thanks to my parents and sister, who helped me celebrate the occasion despite being separated by several states. Credit is also due to my coworkers and friends, who arranged for a nice card and joined me for drinks after work. But I'll admit, a big part of it is due to luck: a chain of dominos stretching back over most of a decade which reached its conclusion today when a NASA satellite reached the furthest reaches of our solar system and cast its mechanical eyes on a new and distant world.
Since I was very young, I have enjoyed astronomy. I recall reading books about the stars and attending planetarium shows. I still remember watching the first pictures of Neptune arrive from the Voyager 2 spacecraft a quarter-century ago. Today was the sequel, a moment I do not know if I ever anticipated witnessing. Today, the aptly named New Horizons probe reached Pluto and in the blink of an eye the world saw something magical.
It is not often that one is introduced to an entirely new world. Today I, along with the rest of the humanity, shared in that experience. It was at once both mesmerizing and thrilling. It answered a handful of questions but raised so many others that countless researchers will likely devote their entire careers to deciphering them. It succeeded in taking what could have been an otherwise ordinary birthday, otherwise spent without incident in the office, into an exciting moment to connect with others and marvel at the wonders of the cosmos and the many new horizons left to explore.
Most of our days will be forgotten and many of our birthdays too, but not this one. This one I anticipate remembering for the rest of my life.
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