As a contrast to the two previous days of details, we are now going to the 30,000 foot view and have a look at the bigger picture.  It may seem like a flip-flop from one extreme to the other.  In a test, the question would start with, “Compare and contrast…..” asking us to consider similarities and differences and what we might make of those or conclude from that kind of exercise. That may be a valid approach. However, for this day we are going to see what we see from a distance rather than up close.

If you have flown at 30,000 feet or above and you look out the window, the landscape is vast, expansive and without borders or boundaries.  Our view is not constricted by geo-political concerns and what we see immediately is a world that appears connected by its mountains, plains, oceans, rivers, cities, highways, and farms. We are so far removed we do not see the people who populate these places and yet we know they are there, going about their lives as they do with all of their activities, concerns, and lives filled with individual thoughts and feelings unique to each person. We might wonder about the common concerns of all humanity or of those individuals we know who are down there. See what comes up for you.

Recent space travelers say that their view of the world will now be changed forever as that view tends to put things into a totally different perspective. Valentina Tereshkova, first and youngest woman to fly in space put it this way, “Once you have been in space you realize how small and fragile the earth is.”   Sometimes we may need to get space between us and what we are looking at in order to appreciate what we’re seeing from a different angle.

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