Feb. 19 – Today, We Celebrate Our Round/Flat Planet

 

For as long as my memory will allow me to recall, I have been enthralled by the notion cited in Isaiah 11:12:  "And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."

I still like the"corners"phrasing.although I have long since accepted what most of us have:  There are no " corners" on earth (except in tallking about our cities and towns.) Proper earthly direcions are, in the main, either "over yonder" or "on the other side."

Primarily, we owe one Italian scientist,, Nicolaus Copernicis. born on this day, February 19, 1843, for our widespread dismissal of earth's flatness.

Copernicus was one of the first scientists (and the most influential for sure) to establish that the earth is round like a ball and not the center of the universe, the Sun is.

I didn't have to wait for my college experience to learn about Copernicus.  I learned him about him in high school, maybe earlier.

But in my pre-college years, , I don't recall ever being exposed to a serious discussion of climate change on a round earth.   In fact, in my college Biology course, the professor was constatntly harping about  the coming worldwide overpopulation problems. and he said very little, if anything important, about how climate change negatively affects humanity and all living creatures.

Indeed, we've learned a lot since Copernicus.

But I have asked myself, "shall I assert the obvious?

Yes! I've responded: "Many among us still think like "flat earthers?"

We seek simple travel directions.   Heaven is always "up there." And the climate never changes, not dramatically;

When thought flat, the climate is.....; well, the climate is exactly what it claimes to be, the climate, no more, no less.

Indeed, flat-earth thinkers like to believe that where they are is the best place to be on the planet , and that the language they speak is the best language as are the particular religious, spiritual, and intellectdual values they hold.

Flat-earth thinkers are highly suspicious of those of the "round" mind;  Flat-earth ponderers simply do not see the issues that bother Copernician devotees; they block out every invasive thought attacking flatness.

Why, flat-earthers argue, "Why complicate our existence with arguments for justice and equality  when we know that those weirdos from a far corner will never undersand how to live with and near us?"

Also, in their devotion to flatness, they are compelled to reject "over there" and "anywhere"as places to go to increase their understanding.

Flat-earther's  don't feel the need for understanding. They don't want it.  They don't expect it.

Round and round they go, these flat-earthers.

 

 

 

 

1 thought on “Feb. 19 – Today, We Celebrate Our Round/Flat Planet

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