Earth Day...or Maybe Gravity Day

Gravity is a contributing factor in nearly 73 percent of all accidents involving falling objects.--Dave Barry

What on Earth are you doing? I can't tell you how many times as a kid I heard this from adults in my life. How many times have I said this to my own children? How often is this phrase used throughout the world on any given day?

These are the types of wonders that cloud thinking for me.

I guess the answer is that anything done on this Earth is what you are doing. The potential of any given act is a force on whatever surrounds it. I think of all the many sayings in the world that reflect this.
Get the ball rolling.
Jump into the fire.
Go for it.
Just do it.
Don't look back.
Watch this.

Crash!

So really when I think of Earth Day, it tends to really be the force of gravity that I seem to be celebrating. What goes up, must come down so to speak. And I have certainly had my share of crashes. I remember my Dad telling me one time that I fell off my bike in the time before children wore helmets, and he described the sound that my head made when it hit the pavement to be similar to a pumpkin smashing. I always wondered about that, such a hollow sound, and how fortunate I wasn't permanently injured or even killed. Sometimes I use it as an excuse to myself when I do something bone-headed, I tell myself in my inaudible voice that I am certainly "brain-damaged."

So this Earth Day, along with celebrating all the energy efficient lights in my house, recycling that our family does and my serious effort to reduce our carbon footprint (though I wish the Chinese nation would celebrate some Earth Day efforts), I am rejoicing at the many times I have suffered the effects of gravity and the Earth offered just enough "softness" to make my landings survivable.