I know he didn’t actually say that, but it is a phrase attributed to Carl Sagan and it seemed an appropriate tie-in to my weekend project.
First things first, though. Virginia has finished another cardigan. This one is the Indigo Playmate cardigan by Wendy Bernard (from her book Custom Knits). She knit this using Classic Elite’s Kumara.
Which, leads me to my weekend project (and to the numerical reference). Notice the ground in the background of those two photos? The majority of leaves from our 20+ trees are down, and though the quantity isn’t exactly uncountable, there is a goodly amount to be raked.
But, why the Carl Sagan reference? Today is the first annual Carl Sagan Day, and I felt it would be good to give recognition to someone who played a small (but integral) part in forming some of my healthy skepticism.
I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.
— Excerpt from a Parade magazine article, “In the Valley of the Shadow.”
