October skies:
The balance of 2012
By Lary Berz
Each season opens new vistas for you and I, the skyward society of Aroostook County.
For example, Autumn sees the magnificent “Great Square” of Pegasus rising triumphantly while the ever-present “Big Dipper” slinks temporarily along the northern horizon, almost inconsequential. Winter’s blast bowls us over. Orion ascends unmistakably glorious. Yet the familiar “Summer Triangle” descends toward obscurity, trailed by the tail of Cygnus’ stars and the “northern cross.” In the Spring, the big boys bow out as Gemini sinks toward the resurgent Sun, while gentler Virgo guides milder mythology to our attention. Finally, the Summer fires of the Milky Way burn along with our campfires, but Leo drowsily vanishes like a kitten beneath the horizon.
So it was, so it is, so it shall be. The cycle of the stars, ever dependable, reminds us of the basic, common links — our celestial heritage. Whether we prefer one constellation to another really, in the final analysis, makes little difference. Each picture offers its own unique flavor balanced with the personal certainty that, given enough time, the favored and familiar shall ever return.
Each character touches or repulses or perhaps even earns our indifference. No matter. One sky. One pair of eyes. We are the end of the story.
And so goes our political process during the current election climate for the Presidency. Whether one trusts the slow recovery and confident assurances of Mr. Obama or one demands the new urgent angles of our businessman-turned-President Mr. Romney, I possess enough common sense to recognize that we, as one American people, will endure and persevere and recover to enjoy new frontiers. Remember, we exist pluralistically securing a marvelous balance between contending casts of mind and policy. I believe both candidates share an honest, hardworking commitment to our nation’s welfare.
In reality, neither man, as President, will magically offer instant solutions. We are too complex, and too uniquely endowed to grant such quick solutions. Elections demand rhetoric and promises. Each candidate must acknowledge and serve not only as Commander-in-Chief, but also as a political party leader furthering the interests of partisanship.
But ultimately, it is you and I, common folks living out our own lives and destinies that really matter. The empowerment here must rest in believing that each voice, each heart, each mind, each American serves as a free citizen of a nation collectively dedicated to certain propositions which are worth both our living and our dying.
To me, both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney will offer some of the answers. Choose for yourselves. But neither can ever offer the Answer. Towards that goal, we, great and small, must all look up!
Larry Berz of Caribou is director of Easton’s Francis Malcolm Planetarium and astronomy instructor at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics.
