Eclipse: A Totality Moment of Light

Hmmm, is April 8th anopportunity to change the narrative and see the light?

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that next Monday a “once-in-a-lifetime” total solar eclipse will take place in parts of Canada and the U.S. The last time it occurred in our particular area was January 24th, 1925 and the next time will October 24th, 2144.

I did a bit of reading up on the topic. Turnsout that a solar eclipse itself is not all that rare. Partial solar eclipseshappen two to five times each year. Total solar eclipses happen roughly onceevery 18 months. But the effect of an eclipse (the moon blocking the sun) isvisible only in a relatively narrow corridor each time – a 200 kilometrecorridor this time around.

Experts consider a total solar eclipseto be a kind of cosmic coincidence since the moon is 400 times smaller than thesun. The moon has to sit at the perfect distance away from the Earth to make itappear the same size as the sun to people on the ground.

The moment of totality, when themoon completely blocks the sun, will only last about three and a half minutes inthis area. You will need to be in specific region to witness the totality.In this area of Ontario the city of Niagara Falls is the place to be. 

Niagara Falls is anticipating that asmany as a million people will congregate in the city to view the eclipse. Aonce-in-a-lifetime economic opportunity for a city whose economy is based ontourism. City officials have proactively declared a state of emergency forthe day so that they can implement special measures to handle the huge crowds.

A state of emergency declarationis a bit ironic given how some cultures have historically interpreted aneclipse. In ancient China, it was believed that solar eclipses occurred when acelestial dragon attacked and devoured the sun. The Incas of South Americabelieved that a solar eclipse was a sign of wrath and displeasure by the sungod Inti.

The belief of ancient West Africantribes is the one I find most interesting. According to their legend, humananger and fighting spread to the sun and the moon who began to fight each otherthereby causing the eclipse.

Since I proclaim myself to be TheMetaphor Guy, I an inclined to put my own symbolic spin on the event. Thetotality period of the eclipse when total darkness presides strikes me as ametaphor for those moments of blindness society experiences when one group ofpeople become completely blind to any viewpoint but their own.

There are instances of this point ofview totality at play in the world as we speak: Russia’s rationale fortheir invasion of the Ukraine and the Israel – Palestine conflict. There areprofound blind spots in the minds of those exercising power in these conflicts.

And so, perhaps we should use those fewminutes of totality next Monday to examine and deconstruct our biases.The world will be a much better place if we experience the eclipse totality asa moment of light in a time when darkness has descended around us in manydestructive ways.

~  NowAvailable Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: HuntingMuskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Untilthe Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel (now out of print) which wasa double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’swebsite at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

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