What the eclipse taught me about kindness
Would you like a pair of my spare eclipse glasses?

My feet hit the sidewalk at a quick moving pace. I have my eclipse glasses in one of those reusable bags just so that they don’t get damaged. People cover the streets, staring upwards and shielding their eyes.
My feet stop moving and I face the sky next to a restaurant. I don’t see what they see. I truly don’t see anything but blinding light. My back leans against a wall and I stare at everyone. A young woman comes out of a restaurant and peeks at me.
“You know its happening right now?”
“It is, huh, should bring these out and test them.”
I whip out my glasses and the lady working at this place claps her hands together.
“Those were all gone! Totally sold out and someone stole like three hundred from a store. You have one?”
I suddenly wish I brought the five others that I have besides this one. I reach into my bag and offer her the spare glasses. She looks at me incredulously and I shrug my shoulders.
“I have a spare for my friend coming, you can use hers and check it out with me.”
We both stare up at the sky. It’s incredible what you can see. Like a surreal dreamscape you’re viewing through tiny glasses. A motion picture event that is real time and wonderful. A ball of living, Orange fire and it being repressed by this darkness slowly but surely.
The darkness repressing the sun is, of course, our moon. This is a rare event that has taken on a life of its own with how excited everyone is about it.
It reminds me of the sudden interest in corpse flowers. How people flock to see it bloom with its decaying scent of death that only happens for 24 hours.
“Holy shit! That is cool!”
I do a spin around and fist pump. I know there’s been eclipses in my lifetime before but you can’t look up at the sun. And, so I experienced them, but never got to see… this. Which is fucking incredible and crazy.
People filter through, seeming like they want to see what I’m seeing. I offer them my pair and let them take a look. Each and every single reaction is totally, completely, worth it.
Their mouth drops open, they gasp, a withheld wow on their breaths. There isn’t a single person who sees it and doesn’t go holy fuck this shit is neat.
I say that is even more awesome than witnessing this event, finally, through new eyes with the glasses.
I’m so pumped that people are excited about this. About science, about nature, about this natural event. I share a pair with a mother and a little girl who is five years old. I wonder if she’ll remember this when she’s my age.
