Astronomical Discoveries

Ever since I was young, I’ve always had the dream of working as an astronomer. While today I might have accepted the reality of being unable to do so, it still sits in the back of my mind. I wonder if I excelled in school, could I have made it far enough to achieve this dream? What classes did I not have the opportunity to take that others might have? Something about the mystery of space pulls me in.

I remember the day I walked into the gym at my old school, Wales Central. In the middle of that gym was a giant planetarium set up for us to spend time in. Being so young, this was as exciting as it gets in school. Considering I had been overly obsessed with outer space already, walking into that planetarium was almost a dream come true, within itself. There was an instructor who controlled the planetarium and educated us on all to be known. My mind was going crazy, and I was in even further than all the books I got from book orders, and tv documentaries I watched. Everything I did on my own for fun past this point, tended to be related to astronomy.

Although the rest of my years in school– high school especially, I haven’t been as enthused about learning things… Astronomy is something that still resonates with me. Even when I go long periods of time without informing myself of new discoveries, it has a place in my heart that still excites me. The quote by poet W. B. Yeats, “education is not the filling of a pail, but rather the lighting of a fire”, sticks with me in the sense that is what education should be. Unfortunately, that is not how it always seems. I find myself completing assignments and studying for tests that after all is said and done, I tend to forget. Or never use the information again. I wish that during my time in high school I had an opportunity to dive into the world of astronomy at a mature age. Maybe then I could have found a future with it, or at least loved what I was learning. I hope that once I am in college I will gain the opportunity to have a little astronomy in my life.

Photo by Ars Electronica on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND