Lunar Perspective

Why “View from the Moon”?

This blog’s name is meant to imply a view of earthly events from a very long distance rather than from the limited perspective of one nation or people or ideology.

When I was a child the idea of viewing the Earth from the Moon was the stuff of science fiction. I used to hope I would live long enough to see humans actually reach the Moon. When they finally got there, and I saw the first photographs of our beautiful blue sphere festooned with clouds, I was overwhelmed with excitement.

I even thought of having the blog written by an imaginary alien, something like this: “I come from the vicinity of Aldeberon. I’ve lived on your Moon for almost 75 of your Earth years, with the means to observe you in many ways – as close as your bedrooms or in the sky above your battlefields and atomic bombs. Not exactly an assignment I’d have chosen, but . . . Never mind, I’m here, depressing as it may be, and I must watch and learn and interpret and do a good job of it if I ever hope to get back home.”

On my wife’s advice that unimaginative people would think I was insane if I claimed to be a native of Aldeberon living on the Moon, I decided to keep the long-distance view but lose the persona.

From that point of view I’ll continue tomorrow to comment on what what the wire services won’t say.