perme A2 - Sunday, May 2, 1982 - North Shore News strictly personal by Bob Hunter NOW THAT the winter rains have abated, it is possible to look up at the sky at night and see the -Stars again. That's good. I know I tend to get a bit crazy if I go too long without seeing the stars. They give me perspective. Just when I'm beginning to think that the fate of the universe is tied to interest rates, or that my own personal trip matters more than anyone else’s, or that the world must be saved, I look up at the stars — and all these kinds of thoughts are wiped away. It wasn't just the fact of spring arriving that got me Staring, hypnotised, at the sky the other night. My three-year-old kid had learned his first song at play- school. And now he was Singing it over and over again: Twinkle. Star, How I wonder what you are... twinkle = little Actually, for the first time in history, we can answer that question — and, of course, the story of what the stars are is mind-boggling in the extreme. The earth itself, we now know, is composed of matter filtered down to the surface over a period of billions of years. All of this material had its origins in the nuclear guts of a star, created in the most improbable way. At an early stage in their lifespan stars manufacture primitive elements. After successive “deaths” caused by gravitational stress plus somehow. an ultimate transformation called a nova, a new star emerges in which a single cubic centimetre of _ its material weighs several million tons. Its a pretty stunning metamorphosis. Ai the instant of nova, a Star may radiate with the light of 200 million suns. Afterwards, what remains is a neutron star, which generates yet higher elements before going into a final transformation. At the end of its life, a star shrinks to the size of a purely mathematical point. It becomes an_ abstraction. Somehow or other, it literally exits from the universe, leaving behind vast quantities of transformed elements, from helium to uranium. Every atom im existence had its genesis in the cauldron of a star. The claim that there is “pure light” of some kind at the heart of the creative process would certainly seem to be in accord with the modern picture of the cosmos. In essence, the stars are first-stage boosters on the trajectory of evolution. Out of their spent energies come the elemental keys which converge to give form to everything that is, nght up to the point where you and I are looking back through our telescopes at chain- reactions in space which we finally recognise as being at the end of the long tunnel of our womb. The seeds that generated us were nothing less than stars, whole galaxies of them. And we are their direct descendants — quite literally, “children of light”. Nothing that we are and nothing that we perceive, no matter how commonplace or excruciatingly rare, would exist except for that fantastic process taking place in those tiny pin-points of light so seemingly “remote” from us here on earth. It is no mystery any more — the genesis of life on our world has been mapped and charted from subatomic units to atoms, from atoms to imorganic and later to organic molecules, then to cells, to multicellular in- dividuals, to cephalized metazoa with brains, to primitive man, to home sapiens. If we follow the links in the chain of life as far back as they go, we come to a point beyond the birth of the world, where the first matter was Stardust. Literally, we have flowed into our present forms atom by atom, cell by cell from that stellar residue, and there was never a point where the links were broken. The stars are our parents. What good does it do me to know this? Well, life on earth becomes a little thing again, nothing much to get the adrenalin pumping. and a sense of detachment comes back. Calm down, the stars seem to say. We have forever. Sutherland Schoo arson $200,00 THE LATESI arson on will incident of the North Shore North Vancouver taxpyers a whopping $200 000) But at could have costa fot more had not the school board installed a new cars fire alarm system al Sutherland Semon Secon dary School Superintendent Rod Woickstrom informed the school board mecting Tucsday might that the damage would not be covered by insurance as the Townhouse rejected NORTH A CPAP ENG ul Vaneouret Cty TEYCE ted an ap ple ation foor a b)oumt townhouse on the cast side of the 1600) bhowk Mahon Avenuc Monday aight The devclopment would have been thice times ay dense as alhowed under the omomantly plan deductible was $3 millson Wickstrom was awakened by a radi station reporter at } 15 am who on the night of the fire. «redited the suspected cause of the fire and an arrest was made the morning of the fire ‘dts a very sad thing that there are arsonists in the schools new fire alarm communntty "said school system and the quick achon board chairman Margaret of the fire department with Jessup, “but 1 am reassured keeping the damage con that the cqguipment is tained working so well | “We get oa pretty geod CJeanup sccurity and indication of Now effecave building service restoration the fire alarm ous by how work commenced the quiskly if was caught morning of the fire and Wickstrom said permancnt cleanup and Pihhe board was alsa in replacement is now (aking formed that arson was the place ee) I you want to order a gohoto that Aappoared the NEWS caf tisa { eat rveorines ., freuen Hr ck “a ver Pree Hcy one Breet Brum oe yon OM EST AL Ghoton moaet be yerpand Masterncharge and VISA accepted Seam Spm sunday : Monday Wednesday Thuraday onty 986-6222 news north shore news Burrard Roofing Inc. 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