To Whom It May Concern
Created | Updated Dec 12, 2002
December 5, 2002
Dear Sir or Madam:
December is the darkest month. At least it is in the Northern half of the world. The antipodeans (those who live below the equator) are enjoying warmth and sunshine while I and my fellow Canadians are freezing in the dark.
This climatic division of the world is one of the most perplexing divisions we human entities must contend with. And strangely, it divides us here at h2g2. It ought not to, but it does. In
an almost painful way. Whenever we speak of the weather or the seasons from our northern point of view, we risk offending or at least confusing all our southern friends.
The h2g2 mission, to create a guide to the galaxy, must as all things must, start with a first step. The first step to a guide to the galaxy is an understanding of this our home planet, Earth.
There is already much to divide this world. There are over 180 nations recognised by the United Nations. There are (or were) thousands of languages. There are five (or six) major religions. It becomes obvious very quickly to anyone with a hope of creating a 'world wide web' of
friends and like-minds, that these divisions are very difficult to overcome.
Sooner or later it becomes a disappointment to every new researcher to realise that this most 'universal' of websites is really limited to english speaking peoples and seems in particular to be mostly frequented by those in the UK.
No problem, I used to think, at least it is a beginning. Because the Empire used to span the globe we have researchers speaking English in every corner of the global map that used to be coloured pink.
We can differ and argue about religion and politics and football. And we can learn to cut thru our differences and establish understanding of our regional prejudices. At first it seemed to me we were being fairly successful about this. It was a beginning, a first step to opening our minds to other peoples in other places.
But I have lately become aware how just the difference of the seasons between the North and Southern halves of our globe creates a communications barrier. I began this article with the statement 'December is the darkest month.' and immediately realised that was only true for half of the world.
How can we ever hope to expand our understanding of different cultures, different religious beliefs and different political and other social structures if we cannot keep our minds open enough to remember that even our perceptions of the seasons are already in opposition to
half the world?
Hoping you will take these thoughts into consideration,
I remain your most loyal and least dutiful savant,
peace,
~jwf~
To Whom It May Concern
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