Last night, I was watchin' the boobtube with a friend of mine and a report came on CNN about that flight that had to circle the Boston airport for a couple of hours (they had to make an emergency landing and wanted as little fuel in that baby as possible).

During this report, they were showing live footage from the sky over the airport and my friend asked me to change the channel. When I asked her why, she said, "Those aerial shots of the Earth after dark freak me out - especially cities. It reminds me that we exist on this big ball in the middle of infinite space and it scares me".

Do you ever think these kinds of thoughts?

Not until now!

bkw said:

billions of them daily ... but there isnt fear attached

doesn't freak me out at all...

we r temporary on this earth. very, very temporary.

i embrace the amazement of nature... all of its aspects.

Nope doesnt scare me....but does make me think if we can be on
a hudge ball like this...then who's to say theres not other beings and
places

I think it's healthy to acknowledge these things from time to time. Even when it gets a bit absurd (but kind of cute) like when my sister, around age 12, suddenly became very aware that gravity is needed to keep us on the planet and started to fear that it would suddenly vanish. She was afraid to go outside because then she'd "have nothing to grab onto if it suddenly happened". I honestly think she became a wiser and more in-touch person by going through that phase.
[Edited 12/21/05 15:06pm]

Ace said:

No,

But big planes circling my house freak me out! I don't live near the airport, and if a plane needs to turn back and make an emergency landing, the dump the fuel over the bay which IS close to where I live! I live in terror of having my house covered in plane fuel .

Last time it happened this 737 was really low over my house and I swear I could see something dribbling out the bottom of it

charlottegelin said:

That was probably just the lavatory being emptied out.

no. in the big scope of things, i'm just a tiny little speck of dust. everyone is. but depending on your point of view, you can also think of yourself as the center of all existence. it's all just a matter of perspective, i guess.

retina said:

it was steaming a bit, you could be right

Ace said:

I do...all the time...but, it doesn't freak me out too much.

I think I'd like your friend.

Nope

mdiver said:

that was deep.

Ace said:

okay this is bizarre because for the first time in my life...yesterday i had a very similar thought. mine was i was imagining myself sitting on top of the highest mountain in the world....or A world. then for some reason i wondered what it would be like if i was sitting on top of it at night....on a night when there was no moon out to cast light and there was nothing around (like buildings or any man made stuff. just me and the earth. pitch dark. i was wondering to myself how would that feel to be so far and high up with no sight at all. i'm sure i'd see stars 360 and that would be excellent but i imagined that all around and below would be just pitch black!

i also had a later thought where i was imagining climbing to the top of a very high mountain with my girlfriend and when we got to the top she made acomment about how small we were compared to the great canyon below us and the mountain we were on. i made the comment that if u look at how small the canyon is compared to what surrounds it...the earth for instance....and then compare that (the earth) to the sky that surrounds it...and so on and so on....that u could see that things aren't really that big or small anyway. i mean feeling wise. it made me feel like i'm just another thing in existance just like the mountains and the sky and the stars and whatever else there is....ants, and that we're all connected and the same and so there was no reason to feel so small or insignificant.

fantasyislander said:

Deeper than you know sweetie

This reminds me of something Neil Armstrong said when he first saw the earth from space but I cant remember it, or was it that other astronaut guy, I'll have to google it.

Lleena said:

Yeah, you go Google that...

2the9s said:

While I'm googling, why dont you think about that vow of silence?

Lleena said:

Didn't Neil Armstrong say "One small step for man, one giant foot up Leena's ass"?

Or was that Neil Diamond?

2the9s said:

oh good grief, just kiss her and be done with it!!

2the9s said:

no, I know that quote you halfwit

hang on, you changed it

fantasyislander said:

I am not kissing that buck toothed person.

fantasyislander said:

She won't give me any of that sugar.

2the9s said:

you'll have to get your rocks off elsewhere son

Lleena said:

Didn't Neil Young say that when he walked on Mars?

2the9s said:

I it take that vow of silence isn't happening any time soon

....
[Edited 12/21/05 16:57pm]

Lleena said:

You whaaaat??

2the9s said:

Have you considered surgery?

Ace said:

sometimes to think of the BIG picture, I mean humanity, the earth everything inclusive, being a spec in the context of what's out there? hell yes it's a sobering thought