It was a historic moment for most of us yesterday, as one of the longest solar eclipses this century swept across Asia. We, in Singapore are not as fortunate, being only able to view 10% of the eclipse and even so, having that tiny glance at history marred by the rain and clouds. Very typical of tropical Singapore. Millions across Asia, however managed to catch this spectacle. More significantly so, the eclipse traveled through two of the most populous nations on Earth – India and China.
I was watching the live broadcasts of the dramatic scene unfolding, as well as the thoughts of the ‘eclipse-chasers’ (that’s how they would like to be called) who were interviewed after the spectacle. Most people were glad they were able to catch something that is so rare, it is probably going to happen again only in the next century. Many termed it a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ moment. Some claimed that it was an emotional experience that went beyond words. Others described it as poignant, spiritual, intense and astounding. I think this eclipse went beyond all of these. It was in short, a miracle.
How often do you hear people describing events as miracles? Most of us were brought up in a realistic and pragmatic world. Miracles were never meant to happen, or so we were told. Miracles evoke flighty dreams, unrealistic assumptions, groundless ideals and worst, unscientific reasonings. We were told that things happen for a reason. Science was meant to explain everything. Gravity has to work (at least on Earth). We were urged to try only the proven and encouraged to take risks, but only calculated ones. Hard work, persistence, dedication and commitment makes things work for us. Not miracles. The only miracles that occur in our world, do so only in the realms of religion. I remember a familiar phase used by one of the CCA groups back when I was in SJI. It is still etched firmly in my memory:
“The impossible we do straightaway, miracles take a little longer”
Fast-forward a couple of years and I could still picture myself sitting in the midst of a NTU lecture theatre, attending my Astronomy elective. We learnt about the stars and planets, their formation and their deaths. It was ironic because, as much as we were taught scientifically how the wonders of the universe were created, we also learnt that there were just as much that were still unexplained by science. In my lecturer’s words, “things just happened and till now we have not found the reason so”. The most chilling part was when scientific theories could explain how the universe was formed, theories were available on the blackholes, stars and the planets. However, the fact that Earth is the only planet (as of now) to support life is in fact a miracle. Earth is the only planet to be positioned away from the sun such that we receive the warmth and energy essential for survival, yet we are protected from the harmful rays and radiation. We are kept warm by the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Our atmosphere consists of the appropriate amount of gases to keep us sufficiently warm. A slight drop in that concentration, we will all freeze to death. The earth is tilted slightly, so that we can have our 4 seasons. Jupiter is placed right where it has to be, shielding Earth from most of the asteroids by deflecting them. The moon circles us, giving us our daily tides and helping to stabalise our gravity. I could still remember how the lecturer ended the lecture. “The fact that Earth has life and can support life is a miracle. The fact that we were not destroyed by asteroids, crushed to death by strong gravitational forces and fried by radioactive rays till today are miracles.”
Miracles do happen. Eclipses happen. Despite the fact that we could accurately predict when and where the next eclipse would be, we will never be able to predict if clouds are going to obstruct us. We will never be able to predict if the ‘diamond-ring’ effect will happen. Neither will we be able to be certain if could see the sun’s corona. And when things like these happen, like how they did yesterday, miracles happen. It is not that we don’t get much of such around us. We simply overlook them.
We have lost our sense of wonder. We could attribute almost anything and everything to a reason today. We presume and assume that we could buy and make almost anything in the world; and we think (or would like to think) that when the financial markets collapsed, we would lose everything.
Perhaps this eclipse would help us remember that as much as we build our successes on the foundations of hard-work and dedication, sometimes things just happen; and they happen without a reason. Isn’t it great to have a sense of comfort and wonderment?
I will leave you with some pictures of the eclipse.
The roof of the Yellow Crane Tower is silhouetted below a partial solar eclipse in Wuhan, Hubei province, China
A partial solar eclipse is seen beyond a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the southern Indian city of Chennai, India
The diamond ring effect
The sun's corona, visible in this picture
People use their mobile phones to take photos as they join thousands of people along the Ganges river to watch a solar eclipse in the Indian city of Varanasi
A statue of Chairman Mao Zedong is silhouetted against a partial solar eclipse in Wuhan, Hubei province, China
A partial solar eclipse is seen behind the Taj Mahal in the northern Indian city of Agra
A dinosaur sculpture situated outside a themed restaurant is silhouetted against a partial solar eclipse in Taipei, Taiwan
A bird flies past a partial solar eclipse, seen behind one of the domes of the Golden Temple - the Sikhs holiest shrine - in Amritsar, India
Pictures courtesy of the Boston Globe
