What I Have Learned

I remember that when I was in Elementary School, I was a dreamer. Even though I knew my father decided that only the males in my family would have the opportunity to pursue a career, I remember telling my father, “I want to be a doctor,” and he responded, “Not you. One day, you will get married and stay home taking care of your family.” Then, I told my father that I wanted to be a teacher so I can take care of my children while I teach. I was so persistent to convince my father to give me the opportunity to continue my education, but my father already had his plans. I was born in a large family in Mexico. There were seven children in our family. My father decided there was only enough money to send the males of the family to high school. So, I decided to move away.

First, there was not enough money to go to school; there were seven children and three were males. In Mexico, parents have to pay for school starting in kindergarten. So, it was difficult for my father to pay for school for all of us, but the advantage in Mexico is that when students graduate from high school, they already have a career, such as being a mechanic, secretary,  or cosmetologist.
 
I decided to take charge of my education so I moved after I finished middle school because I knew my father was not able to send me to high school. I spoke with my older sister who lived in Reynosa, a bigger city in Mexico, three hours away from my home. She was working and single, living with my grandparents. She offered me to move in with her, and she paid for my school.  It was a big decision and I was only fifteen years old, but I agreed to move. I knew after my graduation from middle school that it was time to pack and say goodbye to my family.

Finally, I started studying to become a secretary, and I graduated and received a certificate. A week after my graduation I started to work as secretary. My decision of moving in with my sister took place because my father did not have enough money for all of his children. The outcome of my decision was not only graduating and starting to work, but I learned that I am the only one responsible for my education and future.

Overall, my experience of wanting to go to school allowed me to make the decision to move in with my sister. While in the process, I matured early than I was supposed to. I am thankful to my sister and also to my father that I am the person who I am because even though he could not send me to school after middle school, he raised us with values and gave me the courage in order to continue and find a solution. Since that day, I learned that every problem always has a solution.  People just have to continue trying even though sometimes a problem takes longer to get fixed. Also, I learned that everyone is responsible for their future and they are the ones that could make a decision that could affect their life forever. For that reason, I believe that when a big challenge hapens, it is because something better is coming. 

The Human Experiance with the Night Sky.

I plan to write about the experience the night sky provides throughout time. I intend to explore the way in which humans have responded to the sky. I chose to write about my experience with the night sky because I want to teach people what is happening and make them aware of the benefits people could have with the night sky.

I plan to interview my father since he is connected to the night sky. I want to teach others how people feel by spending time with the night sky. I want to teach them about the experience that my father has with the night and also I want to explain my own experience with the night sky because people need to learn about it and also they need to experience a real night sky. The previous generation's experience with the night sky was definitely better than today’s modern civilization.  They experienced a different meaning with each night.

It is necessary that people gain knowledge about the benefits of being in contact with the sky so they can change their behavior of polluting the sky with artificial lights, in order to have contact with the marvelous world that is above all people in the world.

I intend to educate the community because most of the people are not aware of what is happening today. I want to appeal to their emotions, but I also want to make them aware of the benefits people can obtain with the night sky and persuade them that it is important to conserve the night sky. 

It is important that the community is able to understand and gain knowledge about what is happening around them in order to fix the problem of losing the night sky.

People in these days are so busy that they do not have time to look at what is happening in the world that they are living in.

In addition, society needs to learn how people have responded to nature and the night sky. The possibility to change the perspective of the night sky and nature is in each individual. Each one is capable of taking responsibility but what they need is to be aware of how other people have responded to the night sky.

When I watched the video The City Dark I was unaware of what was happening in the world and how the light during night affects society. That is why I want to make them aware about the influence the night sky has on each individual so they can stop for a minute and think about it because most of the people are busy trying to accomplish their goals that they are forgetting that it is important to maintain and keep the night sky.

Finally, I intend on teaching society about the benefits they are losing because of the night sky, how people are affected with the light pollution at night, and how our ancestors used to live close to the night sky. People apparently are not aware of what is going on around them, and that is why I chose to talk about the human experience with the night sky, so I can persuade them about the benefits we are losing because the night is not dark anymore.

Good Light Compared to Evil Darkness

Why is humanity afraid of the night? It is because they associate night with evil and the light with God. For example, it is strange that when people are really ill and are losing awareness around them. They comment that after being in comma, or after they confront death, that they saw a bright light, which they associate with God. When my sister gave birth, she was unconscious, she almost loss her life and when she woke up she said, “I saw a bright light. I thought I was dying, and I was ready to leave my body.” My grandpa, when he died, screamed and said, “I’m leaving!” After that, he died. My other grandpa did the same but he was hallucinating and telling my mom, “I am seeing a bright light, I think it is my mother and she is coming for me,” then he died. I once had a dream and I remember seeing a bright light that was telling me “I am the son of my father, and nobody came to the father if is not for me.”

 It is obvious that we associate the light with God, and when people see light they see goodness in their life. For example, in the bible there is a scripture that says “Send out the light and the truth . . . May they bring me to your holy mountain and to your grand tabernacle,” (Psalm 43:3). God had given us spiritual light, to be close to him, which people confuse and try to be close to God by inventing artificial light. The book of Genesis also mentions “God proceeded to make the two great luminaries, the greater for dominating the day and the lesser luminary for dominating the night, and also the stars,” (Gen 1:16). In this scripture the bible presents information where the great luminaries dominate the day and the less luminary dominate the night, whereas the humans want to dominate the night with artificial lights. On the other hand, the night represents the darkness, which people are afraid of because they cannot see as clearly as in the day. Darkness is a place without light, where society confronts the reality of crimes.

 Since humanity is afraid of the darkness and does not want to be controlled by the night, they created artificial light to control the night to feel safe. In the film The City Dark, director Ian Cheney says, “There is a controversy over whether more light leads to less crime, but there is agreement that light seems to make people feel safer, almost like it’s built in our genes to move closer to the campfire or to the brightest light.” What Ian Cheney is saying is that light is built into our genes. A scripture in the bible explains, “But the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established. The way of the wicked ones is like gloom; they have not known at what keep stumbling” (Prov. 4:18-19). This scripture associates light with God’s people, which means people respect nature and have good principals whereas the darkness is compared with evil people, that is why a lot of crimes happen during night.

Society wants a civilization with light, which signifies a life that represents fearlessness, without crimes, and close to God. Society pretends to create an artificial God with the light, a God, who can control the night, and finish with the darkness and the fears humans have towards the night with artificial lights. Humans are comparing themselves with the creator of the world and pretending to change the night into day. Humanity pretends to control the night with the light but instead the light is controlling humanity, because of the light at night, humans are getting sick and are losing a lot of benefits that the night provides, which are sleeping and resting, and of course, losing the night sky that connects people to the ancestors and the creator, which is Jehovah God. 

Civilization has Changed Humanity

Society feels more comfortable and more safe with the lights at night, it is something about the night that people do not like. They associate night with evil because at night is when a lot of bad things happen. For example, there are many crimes. On the other hand, during the day people feel more comfortable. I believe people feel vulnerable at night because they cannot see as clearly as they can during the day which can make people feel insecure.

In the movie The City Dark, according to director Ian Cheney, “There is a controversy over whether more light leads to less crime, but there is agreement that lights seems to make people feel safer.” It is the reality in the world that we live because during night even my children want a night light on to feel safer; when everything is dark they feel unsafe and insecure.

There is something inside of us that is screaming for light at night, which could be the idea that people have because the night is an invitation to crimes, burglaries, and much more that happens during the night. We can see all over the news each day what happens at night. It is when bad people go out and try to do bad things. On the other hand, people tend to live during night. A lot of jobs require people to work night shifts. In this modern civilization it is one thing that we can change, with artificial light we convert the night to day where people work and some others have fun.

In reality, the artificial light combined with the night make people see different. For example, at night in the night clubs, people see glowing effects because it is the effects of artificial lights combined with the dark that make people feel safe and different. In other words, people do the same thing but during day and you see the different people look normal even if they are dressed up to attend a night club at night.

With the rise of the crimes at night, people feel safer with artificial lights. Roger Ekrich, a Virginia Tech historian says, “The early impetus, recently as three [or] four hundred years ago, for public lighting was a crime." Even ancients feel safe with the night even though they could not use the light that we use at night, but they instead used fire to illuminate the night and warm them.

Even though the night seems like a dangerous place due to the fact that we cannot see the same way we can see during the day, people change their perspective and convert the night to be a safer place. We should teach society that is important to maintain the night and teach them the benefits that the night has. For example, we are created to sleep at night and rest our body. We are like toys that need batteries and we need to charge them during night. Another benefit is to see the beautiful sky without artificial light and connect with the cosmos because most people feel happier by looking at the night sky.

For some reason society has shaped civilization. The City Dark points out that society has changed the way we live now, but it is important to remember that humans are created to sleep at night. One of the reasons is because we cannot see at night because our creator thinks of everything, and one of the things is not to see the way we wish at night with the only purpose to make humanity rest and feel good the next day. We have converted the night to day, and that is why a lot of consequences have happened. If people don’t sleep well at night they can be ill, by having cancer or stress. The solution is to live the way we are supposed to by sleeping at night.