Hope on the Horizon

As you know, I've started a new job.  Not much to do there yet - and as I've said, while I like the work itself, the place itself is sort of dull.  No one talks to one another, and no music (not even on headphones) is allowed.  You can imagine how boring it might be for a new employee who's trying to find ways to occupy her time in between training sessions.

One activity I use to occupy my spare time is going into Microsoft Word and using the "translate" tool to translate random words into different languages.  Ever the linguist, I like to see how various languages are similar to/different from others.  So I sit there in the unbearable silence of my office and look up translations for whatever word pops into my head: tree, paper clip, stapler, keyboard, computer, carpet, jail, crazy, sad, happy, heart, sky, grow, courage, etc. 

Like I said, I like to see how the translations compare across the board.  Most of the time, the Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, and even English, by the way...) are very similar to one another.  And the Romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian) are usually awfully close to each other.  Then there's Chinese, Korean, Russian, Thai, Greek, Czech... and more often than not I can't read them, but I still like to look at the pretty symbols :)

I love seeing how the words vary from one language to the next.  I was incredibly surprised when I looked up the word "horizon."  With the exception of the "symbol" languages like Chinese, Korean, etc., the translation of "horizon" is almost exactly the same in so many languaes.  See for yourself:

Greek: ὁρίζω" (horizō)
Afrikaans: horison
Danish: horisont
Spanish: horizonte
French: horizon
Hungarian: horizont
Lithuanian: horizontas
Norwegian: horisont
Portuguese: horizonte
Swedish: horisont
Brazilian: horizonte
German: der Horizont
Finnish: horisontti
Croatian: horizont
Italian: orizzonte
Latvian: horizonts
Dutch: horizon
Polish: horyzont
Romanian: orizont
Serbian: horizont

That "horizon" is pretty amazing, huh?  It got me thinking.

Think of some of the most beautiful paintings/photos you've seen.  Chances are, they feature a horizon.  To me, the horizon is one of the most beautiful symbols in this universe.  The horizon, no matter the time of day or the time of year, symbolizes the joining of two very different subjects into one perfect entity.  It matters not who you are or where you live, you can see it -- every human is able to see the very same sky meeting the very same earth in the horizon.  It separates the day and night, while at the same time bringing them together.  We see the sun set and the sun rise over the horizon -- it marks the end of one day gone, and the beginning of a brand new day.  The horizon is an amazing thing, and it's equally amazing for every human on earth.

We often refer to something "just over the horizon," meaning that something good is imminent -- maybe it's not going to happen immediately, but we can expect it soon.  Go ahead, look into the horizon -- you may have to squint, but look ahead.  The horizon is a symbol of hope.  The horizon is where the rocky, dirt-covered earth meets the infinite and beautiful sky.  Look into the horizon and I promise you'll see hope.  Something good is just ahead, even if you don't know what it might be.