The Truth

When I was very young, a lady who lived on our street was walking my grandmother and me home after an evening at their big old house. I believe her name was Harrelson, though I wouldn't swear to it. It was a clear winter night, and a small town, so the stars were bright and sharp.

Miss Harrelson asked me if I knew any constellations, and I said I didn't, so we stopped in the middle of Cooper Street and she pointed upwards. "That's the Big Dipper. You can see the cup and the handle." And I could see it.

She showed me the Little Dipper, too, and Cassiopeia, and explained that they were in the sky all year round. Then she pointed out three big stars lower in the sky, and the two at right angles to them.

"That's Orion the Hunter. He only comes out in the Winter. He's always chasing the Bull (see the stars in a V right there?), and he's got a sword in one hand and a shield in the other."

I didn't understand a lot of what she said, but I always noticed Orion in the Winter, and eventually I started looking for him in the Fall, and mourning when I lost him in the Spring. I reckoned he had other places to visit. It was like seasons. When Winter left it went south to make room for Summer....

I figured out the truth in my thirties. (It took me that long to actually think about it.) The truth is that Orion is in the sky all year long; but for half the year he's out in the daytime, when I can't see him. He has no other places to visit, no other people see. He's overhead at some point in every twenty four hours.

That's an important truth. Just because you can't see a thing (or a person), doesn't mean it's not there.