The W's, Continued...

When we grow up, enter the world as conscious beings, we drop the 'why's' and embrace the 'where.' If there's no hope of finding answers as to why we are here, at least we can spend our time trying to figure out where we are.

Science can tell us something about that. We're in a solar system of course, hurtling at twenty-seven thousand miles per hour around our sun. That solar system plays a role in a much larger picture, symbolizing the illumination of one tiny spec that, with a hundred billion other stars, makes up just one galaxy in our titanic universe.

Who can comprehend such beauty and vastness, immensity and structure? I wish to, but can't. Who can? Maybe some who understand the mathematics and physics behind algorithms and equations? But that's the universe on paper, not the real thing. No, to understand our reality, our universe, our world, I think we have to start small, exploring the hills in our backyards, the gardens full of vegetables, Grandma's closets, Grandpa's workshop, the scary bedrooms and cozy cooby holes.

From there the neighborhood is the next frontier. What lies beyond those woods? Or to what street belongs the dim orange streetlight glowing through distant trees? Where can my bike take me, or my eyes see around me?