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Open skies give us freedom to travel within our 'small blue dot'


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Northern Drift by Monique Sliedrecht

Freswick Bay.
Freswick Bay.

The space and expanse of sky was one of the first things that that struck me when I first arrived in the far north of Scotland. It was a sweeping wilderness. And rather than feeling uncomfortable and exposed, I felt safe and at peace.

One of the glories of Caithness is the endless skyscapes and the rolling clouds, which were an inspiration to me. Lately the sky has been a welcoming blue. The sunshine is amazing, a kind of healing balm to the soul in light of current world news and events.

The pandemic has kept me well below the generally cloudy sky for the last two to three years, not having travelled by plane at all in that time, not to mention only seeing my family through the 'digital cloud'.

It has made me realise the blessing of physical travel. It has also shown me how good it can be to stay in one place, to be able to watch the clouds drift by with two feet on the ground.

By the time you read this I will be in my homeland of Canada, visiting my parents and members of my family and greeting a little niece, for the first time.

One image that came to mind last night, as I lay awake thinking about all I had to get ready, was my parents' beaming faces at the arrivals hall in Toronto Pearson International Airport. I am so looking forward to that moment and to hugging them in person. Real contact!

I feel almost guilty admitting this just now, when I consider all the people who are being torn away from their family and friends in Ukraine against their will, leaving loved ones behind in a terrible catastrophe. Some of those tragic images we have watched on the TV screens will remain etched in our minds forever. Our hearts bleed.

A friend of mine recently drew my attention to a famous ‘family photo’ of Earth along with the other planets, taken from space on February 14, 1990, by NASA’s Voyager 1 at a distance of 3.7 billion miles (6 billion kilometres) from the sun. He said: "This time of war made me think of this iconic photo of Earth, the 'pale blue dot' from 1990."

The image inspired the title of scientist Carl Sagan's book, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, in which he wrote: "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us.”

The image, along with Sagan’s quote, puts things in a totally different perspective. This tiny speck, our home, sits within this vast universe. And what is mankind doing? Ruining its own habitat, creating division between nations, killing each other…. What is happening?!

That small blue dot is a treasure, a diamond in the sky. And we have the privilege of calling it our ‘home’.

As the upcoming shift of the seasons happens in the northern hemisphere, the days begin to stretch out longer.

Daily incremental changes in light have an impact, just as small steady deeds of goodness can help bring peace, change and hope in the most difficult of circumstances. The smallest loving or creative acts of a human being can have an influence – what we write, paint, sing, the money we give, the compassion we show.

Even though I am travelling a long way 'home to Canada', I will still be within our shared home, the precious dot. More than ever, and against the odds of division and war, we all need each other in the family of the human race.

Monique Sliedrecht.
Monique Sliedrecht.
  • Monique Sliedrecht is an artist, blogger and podcaster based at Freswick – www.moniquesliedrecht.com

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