The Perfect Sunset

I was going through some pictures today and I've found that, as many of us probably do, I have a huge amount of sunset shots. I have sunsets over Miami, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Kenya, Orlando, New Orleans, Bermuda, The Bahamas and more. I have good sunsets and not so good. Sunsets with people silhouetted in the foreground and sunsets with giraffe and elephant silhouetted in the foreground.

I have sunsets that are green and sunsets that are blueish. I have purple, red, yellow and orange sunsets. I even have video of the sun going down into the horizon from Mallory Square in Key West and from atop a hillside in Nanyuki, Kenya with Mt. Kenya in the distance.

What is my (our) fascination with sunsets? Well, I'll tell you my theory. As much as I hate to think that I might not be immortal, I might not be. There is the distinct possibility that we have only a finite time on this planet and that the time that we think is so abundant really is limited. We all get sooooo busy - working, going to the grocery store, paying bills, commuting. I suspect that there's not a place on this earth where people don't get caught up in the minutia that is day to day living - caring for children, spouses, pets.....working at jobs that are either unfulfilling or too stimulating - doesn't matter what we do - we're usually too busy to stop and look at the incredible miracles that happen around us every day.

So when we do have the chance to go somewhere and look at the sky turn yellow and purple and pink. We hope the conditions are perfect (there's no rain or tall person with a hat in front of you or loud screaming drunk or child ruining the moment). And we have a moment to stop and breathe and look and take it in.....
A sunset is the oldest and simplest miracle on earth - Ancient Egyptian Priests prayed each sunset to the Sun God Ra to bring back the sun the next day. The ancient Romans built temples to sun worshipers. The Aztec and Mayans worshiped the sun. There is something so primal, so natural about looking at the sunset.

A picture that no human could replicate is painted by nature each and every day. And maybe there is some primal instinctual fear in our darkest lizard brain that this could possibly be the last sunset we will ever see that makes us stop in our tracks and watch. And hope this sunset that we're witnessing is pink and orange and red and yellow.....the perfect sunset. The one to go on.