I have not yet traveled down each and every street in this town. And there are many towns in this state I have not yet seen.
Also, a few states in this country still wait for my visit. I could well spend the rest of my life on a quest to travel and see the world but still only scratch the surface of all the sights, towns and places to be seen.
In some respects, many towns in America look quite similar to all the others. There are the familiar fast food chain restaurants. There are the same brand name gas stations.
There are the familiar looking courthouses, schools, churches and such. The people dress in similar fashion and most speak English.
The majority of folks are friendly, cheerful and easy to get along with when you cross their paths.
Still each town and locality has its own special identity. There is the accent, attitude and customs of its people. There is the condition of the community. Is it doing well or has it seen better days? You can tell immediately.
Let's pick one town out at random. I did this when I was a teen in New York many years ago. I sought out a typical small town in the middle of America I would like to visit.
Almost nobody knows or cares much about Michigan City, Indiana, except the people who live there. It is very real to them though. In fact, it's their whole world.
They were born there. They have their family, friends and work there. Chances are they will live the rest of their lives and die in that same town.
The same can be said for most inhabitants of towns and cities throughout this country and the rest of the world. Those people may vacation to another spot for a couple of weeks in the year.
They may travel some or even relocate to another place. However, they almost always settle down in one location and call it home.
The world beyond that little dot on the map becomes vague, unreal and pretty much non-existent for them as time goes on.
But here's an idea for you, dear reader: If you might care to see other worlds and catch a glimpse of far-off places, then I have a unique, simple and inexpensive itinerary for you. All you need to do is drive out of town on a clear night, pull off the highway, park on the desert floor and look up.
There they are. Hundreds of millions of far-flung distant universes blinking, winking and shining down on you.
You are looking back in time at the cosmos. You see, there are more stars in the heavens than there are grains of sand in the desert. That's a lot of grains! And each holds its own multiples of planets and moons.
They are not thousands, millions or trillions of miles away. They are light years away! It is almost an unimaginable distance in time and space.
We are seeing each one not as it is now but as it appeared countless millions of years ago. It has taken that length of time for its light to reach us traveling across the universe at one hundred and 86,000 miles per second.
Let's speculate for example that every grain of sand on a beach or each drop of water in the ocean possessed the special gifts of self-awareness and intelligent thought.
Well, each one would more than likely figure that he [or it] was special, unique and remarkable. So do we here on this little grain of sand that we call Planet Earth.
We consider that we are quite special and chosen. We are self- aware life forms.
Of all the umpteen trillions of locations in this universe, we have hit the ultimate jackpot. Our planet has life!
We are pretty sure (most are certain) that life does not exist elsewhere. Just look at our surrounding planets and moons.
They are just barren rocks and lifeless balls of gas. The stars- well they are much too far away to seem real.
They do not really exist for us except as little pinpoint lights in our night sky.
So here we sit, perched on the surface of our blue, green globe, circling an orange sun, oblivious to the rest of existence.
It is another peaceful day here in our little town. We are safely and securely tucked inside our specially chosen cocoon. Life as we know it goes on here and now in our world between the stars.
Dan can be reached at danhughoconnor@gmail.com