Great American Eclipse: What Did We Learn?

Above, the total eclipse from Idaho. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

That’s the other lesson from the eclipse: the darkness is temporary. The light does return, brighter than ever. America is the one country in the world with the infinite capacity for self-renewal.

Today is December 1 and we only have one more month to go before we enter 2018.

Although it is December 1, it still seems like yesterday that I joined thousands (estimated at 300,000+ in eastern Idaho) of other eclipse-watchers in Idaho to experience the Great American Eclipse. I settled for an open field off of Interstate 15 near Roberts, Idaho for my viewing area. I had a great time during the eclipse trip.

I happened to be Googling around and came across an article from Fox News on what we learned from the eclipse.

The article begins with:

So the eclipse is over. After all the hoopla and wall-to-wall coverage in the media; all the eclipse parties and eclipse Tweets and Instagrams; what did we learn from this extraordinary event? 

First, the fact that a heavenly body 238,900 miles from the Earth—the moon—can pass across our line of sight of a body 400 times the moon’s diameter that’s more than 92 million miles away—the sun—and transform our lives for more than three hours, is a timely reminder of the awesome power of nature.  

Second, this event came at a significant turning-point in our history as a nation and a people.  The last total eclipse on June 8, 1918, when the United States was just emerging from the aftermath of World War I as the world’s most dominant power—the world’s first “superpower,” even though the word hadn’t been invented yet. 

Now 99 years later, the eclipse came when many are saying it was a metaphor for America’s eclipse as a great power, and its decline as a nation and people.  Many around the world believe that decline has set in for good. Right now China is busy positioning itself as our successor, with a new world order headquartered in Beijing—or alternately, some believe, in Moscow.

Others, especially on the left, are encouraging decline. They want to see America cut down to size and want to make mainstream Americans pay for centuries of what they see as racism, sexism, and other ideological crimes—of which the current controversy over statues of dead Confederates is only the leading edge. 

To read more, go here.