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THE JEWEL IN AN OCEAN OF SPACE
Topics: Earth, creative writing
Posted by BostonGal Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:05:28 PST
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THE JEWEL IN AN OCEAN OF SPACE

 

~The earth has something to say to us. Let's pay very close attention~

 

Howcha do. My name is earth (but if you'll pardon the conceit) I

like to think of myself as a jewel in an ocean of space just a

hangin' over nothing. Hey wait, didn't some guy by the name of Moses

say that?

 

It might feel like I'm standing still but I spin so fast it would

make your head spin but you’d never know it. Little thing called

gravity keeps your shoes nailed to the ground. Be thankful for that

or you'd be streaking through space like a blue-tailed comet! I live

in a galaxy so vast that if you could travel as fast as the speed of

light, it would still take you 100,000 years to cross it. This ole

Milky Way galaxy has 100 billion stars or more and is 600 quadrillion

in diameter (that's with 18 zeros in case you're taking notes).

 

You ever complain about living too close to your neighbors? Then

you'd love to live in my neighborhood but it sure would take a long

time between visits because my neighbors live about 36 trillion

miles apart from each other..or 6 light years. Speaking of the speed

of light, did ya know from the time you flick a light switch to the

moment you see the light, it will have traveled 186,282 miles...yep,

all in the blink of an eye! Hey, we're talking law of physics here,

no small potatoes. Why, it takes me a whole year to float around the

sun, fast float that is, at 66,600 miles per hour bringing you

winter, summer, spring and fall. And speaking of the sun, I'm 92

million miles away and you be glad of that considering the sun's

surface temperature is about 11,000 degrees! You sun bathers, they

don't make a sunscreen for that one! It's a good thing that only

two-thousand-millionth of its radiant energy reaches me.

 

I'm the 5th largest planet in the solar system and I cover

196,000,000 square miles (that's right, millions) and my

circumference at the equator is 24,900 miles. How'd ya like to have

a waist that size? By the way, I'm not as round as you think. I'm

also known as an oblate spheroid, that just means I'm slightly

flattened at the poles. Thought you smart alecks would like to know

that.

 

I have everything you could possibly need. Food, air, water...water,

71% of it! Makes me laugh when I think of your astronauts, big

shots, off to the moon, traveling through space, exploring new

horizons, acting like they could live without me. Ha! Packed in

their little ole capsule was air, food, water, from me, their home.

When are they gonna smarten up?

 

I know you think I'm just a gentle giant but sometimes I feel so

pressured that I just open wide and swallow up everything in

sight...and sometimes, I blow my top and spit hot, fiery lava

everywhere. Why, one time I even buried a whole place called Pompeii,

( with a little help from one of my buddies, Mount Vesuvius) what a

mess!

 

But, if you want to see me at my scary best, wait till I rock and

roll, ebb and neap my watery deep and raise a wall of water so high

it almost touches the sky and when that wet and wild baby comes

crashing down, watch out! I once took an entire Japanese island

dragging 10,000 people out to sea...the entire population! Hey, I

don't mean to be a bad guy, these things just happen.

 

It's true, I was pretty hostile and desolate when I was born but

now, well you remember that song 'YOU MUST HAVE BEEN A BEAUTIFUL

BABY CAUSE BABY LOOK AT YOU NOW'....yeah, look at me now.

 

You humans sure love my sparkling aquamarine oceans, lush green

forests, rainbowed deserts, frosty snow-capped mountains,

multicolored carpets of flowers...not to mention the cute little

critters that run all over me and the not so cute ones too. How

about those candy colored rainbows, those diamonds in the sky, rouge

colored sunsets and sunrises and those funny little wispy things

that float across the sky. And if you're fortunate enough to live in

my northern regions you get to see the aurora borealis...boy, is

that a sight for sore eyes, electrifying ribbons of eerie light. By

the way, that name means northern dawn (in case you're one of those

inquisitive types who have to know everything). And did you know she

has a twin sister from my southern regions called aurora australis

that means southern dawn, incredible twin beauties!

 

Yep, I sure do have a lot to offer. I'm just gonna keep right on

spinning forever and ever and I've got secrets you ain't even seen

yet. Someday I'll reveal all. I'm usually a pretty hospitable guy

and you're welcome to stay here even though you've treated me pretty

rotten but it's not up to me how long you stay, it's up to our

Creator.

 

So you hang in there...I will too (heh heh). Do right, and when

God gives you the go ahead for everlasting life then you and me

are really gonna have some incredible experiences. I promise.

    

                       

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Comment From: BostonGal

awesome!!