Gravity

Stephen Hawking is going on a Zero Gravity flight to experience weightlessness. I want to go too! Sure, sure, it would be great to step on the scales during that flight. ("I've experienced 100% weight loss!") But, truly, I'm thinking it would be an absolute blast to try out the experience shared only by astronauts, Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon. The Zero Gravity company who does these little jaunts is letting the other seats on Hawking's flight be occupied by the winners of charity auctions. So, I'm doomed.

I don't like charity auctions. I do like charities and I like them helping people, sure. But I prefer charity raffles. Most people can manage to afford a chance at something really spectacular but not everyone can afford to one-up someone with both the desire and the means to get it. When I do non-profit works, I always give a preference toward raffles for the really good stuff. It gives people the chance to dream instead of scoff at their position in life. If someone has the means, I suppose they could pull a Veruca Salt and likely get their way. In such cases, the winner is still always the charity.

So I guess I won't be making that flight with Hawking. This is quite alright, of course, because I couldn't find one of his books that I had checked out from the library for quite some time once. I'll consider this a penance for keeping it long past the due date.