佚名/Anonymous
The past years fled when I overheard the little child's voice. Her parents had taken her to see the holiday lights in Washington, D.C. It was a clear, crisp December evening. The child spotted a lighted star on top of a chimney. "Oh, look!" she said. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight." There was nothing comic in her wish, and nothing was lessened by her mistaking an artificial star near at hand for a blazing orb light years away. The moment was sincere, innocent, and wrapped in wonder.
It is not by accident, I think, that a star is a symbol of light, guidance, and hope. It has inspired men and women of every age, every faith, every nation, and every era. To the ancient Egyptians, stars were the souls of the happy dead. To a modern scientist, stars are a demonstration of the great principles of a rational universe. To all, stars are a source of wonder.
Star light, star bright...There is a beauty in a star, in that point of light which seems to wink at us, as if sharing a secret joke. It reminds us that there is hope for man, so long as we do not take ourselves too seriously. It reminds us of perspective and the importance of balance. A confrontation with a colleague, a disappointment in our investments, the frustrations of daily living seem very small compared with the immensity of the universe and those laughing stars, inviting us to share in a cosmic good humor. The beauty of a star is the beauty of a laughing child, so long as we can look with child-like eyes.
First star I see tonight...There is another wonder. Each night, we can see the stars for the first time. We can, if we are so minded, recapture the rapture. We can look upon the first star we see and think of our individual faiths and our relationship with the infinite. We can feel that expansion of the soul which comes when we realize, again, that we are not limited to time and space, that our body is not all there is to man, that we are far, far more than some chemical accident. There are no accidents in a universe of order.