2020-06-23 – Now that we’ve got the Summer Solstice out of the way, the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer. It happens every year. I’ve seen it before.

My wife Kit thinks I am being a pessimist for saying this. But I think that pessimism and optimism are emotions that are best reserved for outcomes that are subject to some uncertainty. Like, I’m optimistic that humans will figure out how to stop runaway global warming. Or I’m pessimistic in thinking that human effort will come too late and Earth’s climate will spin out of control killing us all . . . and it’s already happening.

Neither of these outcomes is set in stone. They are definitely things that you can be optimistic or pessimistic about.

The seasons of the year are set in stone. Literally. The mass of our Earth has tremendous inertia. It’s going to spin on its tilted axis for billions of years, no optimism or pessimism required.

Unless.

Unless we are hit by an asteroid.

I’m optimistic that we won’t be hit by an asteroid for a long, long time. Until then, the seasons of the year will continue as we have always known them.

What do you think? Scroll down to comment.

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