A few thoughts that have been rattling around in my brain;
"Remembering is not the opposite of forgetting."
This is a quote from the film that we watched today in my film studies class, Sans Soleil, a very interesting
film. The rest of the quote was something about how remembering is a process of rewriting. Before we
watched the film we talked about the concept of "imaginary homelands", as explained by Salman Rushdie.
The idea that your "homeland" isn't real, especially if you're physically separated from it. We construct our idea of what home is based on our memories, but our memories are not perfect, far from it. So, the place we construct is somewhere that never existed, and therefore a place we will never be able to find. Depressing? Kind of. But also interesting to think about.
I mean really think about it. There are some moments in my life that, while they were happening, I felt were so important and that I could never possibly forget any detail. Looking back, I have forgotten, I have rewritten. I've filled in the blanks. Even the really big things that I do remember very clearly, I'm sure I don't remember absolutely every detail & I wonder how much of my past is "real" & how much is rewritten.
I guess it doesn't really matter.
VY Canis Majoris is the largest known star.
This is another thing that has been boggling my mind lately. Astronomy is so fascinating, every lecture seems to come with at least one jaw dropping moment. Well, I've always been a fan of stars, they're beautiful. And I always knew that they were big and far away and that some of them were really big and really far away. I guess I just never realized quite how big or far away they could be. So, VY Canis Majoris is the largest known star. How large, you say? Well, it's radius is about equal to the distance from Saturn to the sun. That's nine AU, or astronomical units. One AU= the average distance from Earth to the Sun= about 93 million miles. So that means that the radius of VY Canis Majoris is 9x93,000,000 miles & it's diameter is about 18x93,000,00 miles, which is about 1,674,000,000 miles across.
One billion six hundred and seventy four million miles across.
I actually can't handle that. I had no idea that something that large existed. It absolutely blows my mind. It makes me feel so incredibly, inconceivably, insignificantly small. But not in a bad or scary way. Compared to the overwhelming vastness of something like VY Canis Majoris, I feel like I am so small in comparison that I can just fit into the universe. Which is a comforting thought to me.
"The people are with you and won't be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment."
The dean of the college of cardinals, Angelo Sodano said this to the Pope this past weekend. He said this in reference to the many sex scandals within the Catholic church that have recently been coming to light.
"Petty gossip", are you kidding me? This is not petty gossip of the moment, hundreds of people seem to have been affected over the last three or four decades, which makes this neither petty, nor of the moment. And, it seems now that the church knew much more about this than they've ever let on. And their way of dealing with the abuse, move the priest to a different church. Really?
I just find it really ironic and kind of infuriating when people or organizations that have such a holier than thou attitude, and claim to be the moral authority, do something like this. It's like, you're not better than me.
I feel the same way about people who make statements like "people who don't support the war, don't love this country". How do you get to decide that? Because you support the war, you're more of a "patriot" than I am? You're a "better American"? No. You're not.
I guess what it boils down to is the presumption that some person or organization has that it is morally "better" than someone or something else, is really frustrating to me. And it's even more frustrating when this alleged moral authority turns out to not be very moral at all.
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