Roughly, the sun travels at 250 km/s. Hurtling through space, at this impossible speed, it drags the solar system with it. Its orbit around the Milky Way takes around 225 million years. By this measure, the earth is quite youthful – having whipped around the Milky Way only 20 times. Barely out of its teens.
Banal cosmological facts, Mikel thought, were enough to drive a person insane.
He considered if reverse logic was a saving grace – could the same facts drive a person back to reason? He doubted it.
It would be insane to think the sun – something so hideously big – was travelling at 250 km/s. On the other hand, it would be insane to deny it. And if these two conclusions perpetually circled one another?
Mikel’s toaster dinged and his toast popped up.
The problem was the obvious: could an insane person’s logic be trusted? He ate his toast without butter or any other topping – which did not help his case for sanity. In fact, he did not think anything could be more condemning. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts.
Relative to the earth, who was enjoying its prime years, a human on the same scale lives for a fraction (of so many fractions) of a second. He thought this was rather unfair. Even the pitiable insects, the unfortunate bugs of this earth, could summon the energy to live for a few days. But in the cosmic year, all life equalized to the pitiable insects.
He finished his plain toast and put the dish in the sink.
When his wife came home, she asked what he had been doing. He answered that he had been eating toast. She asked if he had been thinking anything interesting. He said, no, and she seemed content with his answers. He reckoned that there was little mark higher, in regard to sanity, than thinking nothing at all.
END.