In Continuum.

Till the Next Glimmer


I remember when I was much younger, my mother and I used to look at encyclopedias together on the sofa. Flipping to a page with the Himalayan Mountains, she suddenly asked why the temperature higher up from the Earth's surface is lower than the temperature on the surface itself, when it is actually closer to the sun. I didn't know that either, because I wasn't even half her age and was only halfway through my early primary school days. I didn't know anything about science of geography back then, only the names to the shapes of leaves or if birds walked or hopped.

I learned later on in life that, heat from the sun does not reach the Earth like the heat of the fire reaches our skin. It does not feel hotter because you are closer to it, or cooler when you are further away from it. It is because radiation works differently, and it is reflected off the surface of the Earth. Thus, at the surface of the Earth the air is actually hotter because that is where the reflection takes place. As the reflected radiation travels higher, it loses heat and thus because cooler in upper grounds.

Of course, we must also take into considerations such as dust particles in the air. Towards ground level the dust particles in the air are more saturated compared to the air near to the sky due to the abundance of air relatively. Dust traps heat, and thus towards the ground it is a lot hotter. Other reasons includes the pressure differences, altitudes, stuff like that. But that is the basic idea. The higher you go, the colder you get(Save for the exception of the stratosphere where it actually gets hotter suddenly).

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With quick steps I rushed into my bedroom to grab the camera, then rushed all the way back out to the balcony where I came from to capture the picture above. I don't know the time or date I took it, but it was some time close to the evening and the sun was setting at that time. It was after dinner I remember, and I wandered to my balcony and saw the beautiful western skies. I have to take this, I told myself. And thus, the rush for the camera as if for life.

There is a certain peace in that picture that I still see, the reason why I took the picture is still evident to me. The image is so peaceful and blissful at the same time, and it looked like a melting pot of warm ice-cream, though still tasty somehow. The colors were telling me that everything is going to be okay, as if they spelled words of encouragements in the skies. I still look at the picture and marvel at the beauty of nature, and especially of the quality of my camera...okay, maybe not that. But still, I love this picture, and even from my home's balcony, such a picture can be produced.

They say that the higher you go into the sky, the colder you get. But it is not the chill I see solidified in the skies, but the frozen warmth that goes against all scientific and geographic explanations. But who cares about those, because they only further tarnish the poetic beauty of everything natural in this world. Forget about the scientific explanations of things, forget about reasons. Just admire, and plainly do so, in awe.

Despite the darkening skies, everything in this world tells people that there is always hope in this world, a glimmer light of the glory of the day before lingers still in the sky. Wavering though it is, there is confidence and courage still, that in hours the glory and beauty shall be restored to the skies.

To the person that I hold so very dear, there is always hope or faith in every obstacle that we face, even if you see yourself embedded in the obstacle itself. Do not fear your own reflections, because like the darkening skies, in hours there will be light. Even at the darkest hour of the night at 3am as the picture below, there will always be light somewhere in the dark. May that be me for you, and may you be that for me. So till the next glimmer in the skies, hold on. Just hold on, and breathe. Thank you for being the little light of hope in the little piece of sky that we share.