I get a message from NASA when the International Space Station is going to be visible from our house. Often, especially in good weather, I go out and watch it. The other night after it had passed, I was looking at the sky and started thinking about the stars and how when we lived in the Philippines we saw the Souther Cross — something we can’t see in the northern hemisphere. I can identify and find some starts and constellations, but really not too many. The sky seems to change with the stars moving around, but of course this is because we’re standing on the earth that is spinning and it appears that the sky is revolving around us.
But one star doesn’t appear to move — the North Star. The North Star, known as Polaris, looks like it’s glued in place. If you can locate Polaris, it’s always in the north. If you happen to be lost, you can always at least know which direction to head by finding Polaris. (Again, this only works if you’re in the northern hemisphere.)
The North Star is easy to find if you can locate the Little Dipper. The North Star is located at the end of the handle in the Little Dipper. Most people think Polaris is a very bright star —it’s not. It’s only about “average” in brightness. In fact, it’s usually hard to see from our house and we don’t have a lot of ambient light out where we live. It seems like such an important star that’s been used for navigation for so long should be bright — but it’s not.
I guess we should all strive to be more like Polaris — if you think about it, it teaches some valuable lessons. There’s a lot to be said for being dependable and always there when needed. And you don’t have to be the brightest to be important. In any given situation, it’s usually an “average” person that’s the most important….
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