Shine

Used to be that sailors read the stars like a compass. Simply stretched their arms wide and hugged Polaris. If the North Star played hide-and-seek, then the pointer stars of the Big Dipper or the five stars of Cassiopeia would be their guide. 

But as the age of technology unveiled new directional devices, the stars were relegated back to their whimsical state of nighttime reverie – the stuff of moonbeams and nursery rhymes. The stars were still there, of course, but instead of pushing us forward through the dark unknown, they polarized us, holding the layers of our inner thoughts like a ten-tier wedding cake no one dared to cut into. We made our wishes, but the guidance hit pause. 

Some people did not like being shipwrecked, so they set out in a new direction. Today the age of clairvoyance is reopening the skies. Just look around you. 

See that man over there with the 2021 McLaren Speedtail? In the mere 13 seconds it would take to launch that car to 186 mph, he has read your mind. He saw the wonderment and envy in your eyes. He saw the dejected posture that revealed you were not one of the 105 others who held the keys to the ultimate ride. 

Now see that red pig-tailed toddler crying in front of the ice cream shop? Her strawberry tresses drip down her shoulders in curls of rage. But she read your mind too. She knows that in 13 seconds, your heart will no longer hold the ability to deny her a sweet treat. She saw your kindness and pushed her tantrum switch to “on” long before you said that unspeakable phrase, “Not today.”

Okay, now check out this woman with the computer in her lap. At 1:13 p.m. today, she set out to read your mind like the other prophets. She fired up her mental compass, she typed as fast as a McLaren, she promised herself a Haagen-Daz reward, but alas she could not read your thoughts. She could not see what you saw. She simply was not a seer. 

But she was a writer, and so she looked up to the night sky and tried her best. She knew that the other stars in her universe would be there to guide her, and together they would shine.