I See the Moon

Driving home from Ann Arbor the other evening it was late. As we passed through the many miles of farms and countryside the sky was dark enough to see a multitude of stars. Even so, the quarter slice of moon was brilliant and made the most beautiful nightscape image as it illuminated a solo wisp of cloud in the sky above it. Such a common sight and yet it was really breathtaking, an image simultaneously austere and spectacular.

Looking back at the image I was reminded of a children's song my nieces taught my daughter years ago. It was probably during one of several trips we took together out to the southern California desert where one often sees the moon shine over the surrounding mountains. The song goes something like, "I see the moon and the moon sees me. The moon sees the one that I long to see....." It's a great little nursery rhyme/song that lets a child feel connected to the greater world and, especially, connected to an absent loved one.

Walking up to the hospital early that next morning I saw that same moon as it made its departure for points west. Still beautiful in the pre-dawn glow I had to think: All over this world there must be people admiring the beauty of this moon, its brilliance in the clear night sky. Somewhere there must be people in a world at war who wish for nothing more than to enjoy that moon in peace; people who don't care to die over religious beliefs; who don't care to die for petroleum; who don't care to kill because some remote leadership demands it. Somewhere in the world there must be too many people who want only to enjoy the beauty of that moon without the burden of their desperate hunger, their poverty, their illness. Somewhere in a world so large there must be people who want nothing more than to be able to enjoy the simple beauty of a moon without fear. If only we could all agree that our greatest achievement would be to provide for everyone to see that moon and enjoy its beauty in peace and comfort. Such a dream on a moonlit night.