I smiled and glanced up in the rear view mirror to see him staring intently up at the bright, glowing moon in the sky. I smiled, because it wasn’t really glowing green. My son is color blind and often confuses muted shades of color. The light glowing in a huge orb around the moon did actually appear to have a bit of a bluish tint to it (perhaps from the midnight sky? The water? I had no idea…) but to my son, it looked green. And then, I sat perplexed for a moment, knowing I had to answer his questions. I began with, “It’s not really green, Ade. It’s kind of bluish. It’s cool though, huh?”
He nodded and while still staring up at the sky, asked, “But how does it stay stuck there? How come it doesn’t fall down?”
Erggg….Hmmm… Now, I have a very basic understanding about gravity and orbits and planets, and how everything moves around the sun and blah, blah, blah…but…how do I explain this particularly advanced concept to my kid, while driving?
I began, “Well, it stays there because of gravity.” Strike one. (Ugh. A physicist, I am not.) Thoughts I instantly imagine going through my son’s head: What the heck is gravity? I don’t even know what that word is.) I began again, “Gravity is something that holds us to the ground so we don’t all float away. And, the moon stays where it is because of the planet Earth’s gravity. All of the planets and the moons orbit around the sun.” Strike two. (Ughhh again! Son’s thoughts: What the heck does orbit mean? And, there’s more than one moon!??)
Deep sigh, collecting my thoughts as Louis or Niall from One Direction croon about the fact that I am “stealing their heart tonight with just one look.” Eee gads! I think I’m a bit old for them…but whatever.
“Oh. Errr. Um. I mean, all the planets and our moon move around the sun in like, a circle. Kind of like a big invisible road or railroad track in the sky. And, the moon looks so bright because the sun is shining on it from a different part of space.”
I glanced around to see my son was quiet, and was still staring out the window. Boy, I suck at this. Then he said, “But how come it’s stuck there?”
Gahhh! I really suck at this. “You know what, buddy? I’ll look it up for you on the computer, okay?”
“Okay,” he answered, seemingly oblivious to my lack of knowledge and horrid explanations of all things space. (With my extensive love of Star Trek, you think I would’ve been a little better prepared for this… why couldn’t he have asked about warp speed or the Borg?!? That, I could have answered…)
So…because inquiring minds want to know, I decided to try to find the easiest way to explain this very complex theory to my son. I Googled: “How to explain why the moon is stuck in the sky.” Can’t get more basic than that, right? Wrong. I clicked on several sites, all of which first spewed scientific techno-astronomy babble that I just had no interest in reading and all began just as I did: “Gravity.” Kristine Spekkens at the astrology department at Cornell answered the question this way, “A the simple answer to ‘why does the Moon stay suspended in the air’ is this: There is a gravitational force between the Moon and the Earth that tries to pull the Moon toward the latter. This constant tug on the Moon as it moves around the Earth is called a 'centripetal' force. This force is balanced by the 'centrifugal' force, that pulls on the Earth and keeps the moon in motion.” Simple? Ugh. I don’t think my 8-year-old will get it. Shoot…I barely get it.
But this ‘simple’ question my son so innocently asked got me thinking about something. Sometimes, simple can become very complicated. But, it doesn’t need to be. My son didn’t need a huge explanation as to the why or the how. In fact, I doubt he’s even worried about the answer anymore. Kids live in the moment. They wonder, they ask, they either get an answer or not, and then they move on. Simple as that. In fact, he probably won’t think of it again, until he’s staring out of the window one night… Adults wonder, then question, then wonder some more, then argue, then worry, then stress, then try to complicate the answer, then stress and react to the answer, and before you know it, you’ve wasted too much precious time over something that is probably irrelevant and detrimental your daily living and achievement of happiness. We complicate things all the time. We make things harder than they need to be. Whether it’s answering questions, dealing with a personal situation, arguing with a co-worker or even assembling kitchen cabinets from IKEA… Keep it simple, move on. And, sometimes, the simple thing to do is the harder thing to do.
The other answer that the Cornell website gave as to why the moon stays stuck in the sky was the one my son probably would have been happy with: It just does.
Stop making everything so difficult. Just look at the moon shining above, and enjoy the fact that you are still here and get to see it shining. Our lives can be overwhelming. Getting answers can be overwhelming. When you really need a better answer, search for it. If you don’t understand it, ask more questions. But sometimes, you only have to look as far as the most basic feelings and understanding in your heart.
Simple as that. Things don’t always have to be so complicated.