I gazed out into the night, leaning over the high railing, face upturned, towards the sky.

"Look!" I said, "The stars are out again!"

My voice was full of wonder. It had been ages since I had seen stars in the night sky. Most of the time, either the lights were too bright or there was too much cloud cover. I put my elbows on the railing, and my chin in my hands, as I began to identify the constellations of Orion's belt and the Ursa Major. Mamma was hanging out clothes to dry (an unearthly hour for this chore), when suddenly a thought struck me.

"We have lost so much."

"How so?" Mamma enquired.

"The ancients would have been able to pin-point each and every star with their names. Every other person would be able to see the strands of time in these celestial bodies. And look at us. We can't even name most of the major constellations. And that is only in the matter of stars. We have truly lost a lot."

"Hmm... You might be right." There was a pause of consideration. Mamma came beside me to match my stance, and gazed up at Orion. "We tend to imagine our past was wiser, more knowledgeable, and more pleasant than our present." She went on to surmise that the ancients were divided, as we are today, into groups of persons who were aware or researched on divergent matters.

We stood there for a while, gazing at the stars,

"But then again, duty calls," she sauntered off to the kitchen, calling back, "Once you have finished star gazing, keep the clothes in the right places."

I sigh, nodding, and continue on my rumination, "We have lost so much!"