I usually only write about workers’ compensation topics and for sure, I NEVER get political on our company blog or twitter account. Today however, I am going to venture out of my comfort zone, and most likely I am going to stumble a bit as I try to express what is in my heart after listening to people’s reactions to this event.

Humanity has always had a close relationship with the sun. The sun brings us warmth, light, and life. Every culture in ancient times had a sun god. For early cultures, eclipses brought fear and reverence. They were afraid one of their gods was being harmed or killed. In reality, eclipses are harmless, and in more modern times, there were scientific discoveries made during an eclipse, including the discovery of helium and the theory of general relativity was tested and proved.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, a solar eclipse in 585 BC stopped the war between the Lydian and the Medes, who saw the dark skies as a sign to make peace with each other. And this leads into what I want to explore.

I was watching the news this morning in anticipation of the eclipse. There were people camped peacefully in many locations throughout the country just for their two-minute chance to view the moon eclipse the sun. People were focused on learning something about their world. They were talking to each other about a common interest. No one was focusing on politics, religion, ethnicity, etc. If fact, I saw people from all different walks of life being excited together about a common interest. I think this is one of the first times I have seen this in many months.

During the eclipse, regardless of where the people were in the country, their responses prior to and during the eclipse were so heartfelt and genuine. They were just excited in the moment and it was so refreshing to listen to their reactions. I am sure I was not the first person who had never been aware of the NASA channel before this event?

I was thinking as I was watching this event that I was wishing we could have watched the eclipse with ISIS and the North Korean leaders, the Democrats and the Republicans, the White Supremacists and all the other groups that just can’t seem to get along. Maybe they would have put down their arms or their divisive words? As NASA just stated, the story does not end here, unless we let it do so.