Heroes Not Zombies

There’s something magical about seeing the sky turn golden, red or pink, isn’t there? Whether it’s last thing at night or first thing in the morning.

I love those scenes in City of Angels where the angels gather on the beach in the morning to watch the sunrise.

I delight in the beauty of a subtly radiant Belt of Venus over the western horizon at dawn.

But I never tire of sunsets.

You’d think that because we’ve all seen so many of them that we’d be so used to them. You wouldn’t be surprised if we hardly noticed them because they were so “ordinary” but here’s the thing, sunsets never become ordinary. They draw me outside to look at the sky, or they stop me in my tracks time and time again.

So I thought I’d share with you one of the many, many sunset photos I have. Like all the rest it stirs a mixture of joy, delight, wonder and awe in me. Sunsets are one of the most common ways to experience “l’émerveillement du quotidien” (the marvel of the everyday) which keeps that sense of specialness so alive in the here and now.

Just one final further comment – ever since I read the idea that a sunset is really an earthrise, because it’s the Earth turning and the horizon lifting towards the Sun, not really the Sun sinking below the edge of a static Earth, I find that word popping into my head every time I see this happen.

Remembering that this is an Earthrise is the best way I know to experience the sensation that this little planet is constantly turning in Space.

And that is truly amazing.