A Different Kind of View

     So I have officially survived my 8th or 10th flight on them there new fangled Aeroplanes.  I'd say for a guy that is deathly afraid of heights, that is a pretty good claim.  I have no gotten to the point where I don't close my eyes as tight as I can and scrunch up in my seat during take offs and landings.  I no longer intently watch the wings waiting for the moment when an engine falls off.  Heck, I am sure that I am even starting to look down from the insane heights and enjoy the view.  Who knows, maybe I will actually get to the point where it doesn't bother me at all.

Where are all the lines you see on maps?

     On the flight to DC, everything was heavily overcast (Undercast?) so I really didn't see much from the window.  However, on the flight back, the air was so clear you could literally see all of the Earth from wingtip to the horizon.  It is a sight that I never get tired of seeing and one that always inspires me.  It makes me wonder about this amazing planet and how we have arbitrarily divided up a complete world into hundreds of isolated places.  Have you ever looked at the Maps of the world and pondered these invisible barriers that we have placed between us?

Oh!  There are the lines!  Whew I was getting worried.

      Seen from an airplane or from space, the Earth is filled with wide open spaces.  There are no boundaries other than those caused by geography.  One section of a landmass doesn't suddenly end at some dotted line and another begin on the other side.  A viewer sees no nations, no states and no races.  Instead, they just see the Earth.

     The vast majority of the conflicts that this old world has seen have been about boundaries.  Man kills man because one or the other violated his territories.  They treat the lines of ink on maps as immutable, indestructible walls that no other person should cross.  Never mind that the "invader" is of the same  race as the other.  Forget that they worship the same gods.  All that matters is that X invades the lands of Y.

     I know it is a silly thought, but I think that if more people could get above the lines of the maps and see the world as one grand whole then we might get along better.  At least I hope they would because in the end borders are just lines on paper.

Brew long and prosper.