Somehow we humans got the idea that the best moment to really meditate on an event—a birth, a marriage, a death, a battle, a coronation, an inauguration, anything good, terrible, romantic, auspicious, historic, or otherwise memorable—is when the Earth is back in the same position it was when the thing happened. This is astronomy at work. On anniversaries and birthdays, we are in the same place in relationship to the sun.

