In summer, dawn, the earliest part of the day, heralds the soon arrival of the sun rise. It is the early power-emanating the incidence for human and natural activities to which everything relevant to life sustenance and sustainability is hinged. The sun rise with its beauty devoid of its burning heat, a semblance of a baby at birth is as innocent as harmless.
At this stage, the beauty of the sun is not yet remarkable and so is the baby’s. People, thus, without the fear of the heat of the sun, can travel any distance and do anything at this early stage of the sun. The infant likewise is totally dependent and in no way can cause trouble to parents as it is immovably in their care. It is at the mercy of those who care for it as well.
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. Sunrise symbolizes the birth and rebirth and awakening. It is the coming of light that all look forward to. Furthermore, sunrise symbolism is closely tied to new beginnings, which is why many people cherish it. Each dawn means a new opportunity to achieve objectives. It also symbolizes childhood when all enjoy the innocence of the boy or the girl; things are straight forward and no ultra-motive attached. The presence of the children at this age, buoys the spirit of all the people around.
As time gradually advances by seconds, minutes and hour, the glow of the sunrise gets larger and larger and seen above the horizon. Imbued with warmth and it allures the attention and admiration of humans. All eyes gaze at it admirably and painlessly as it has not yet gained its aggressiveness. It is so friendly and interesting that people enjoy basking in it even if it is at the risk of neglecting their daily duties at least for a while.
The time spent in this condition is not labeled as wasted; its health benefits far supersede the money which could be earned in value at that time. In fact, it well prepares the faculties of the body to be set in motion unreservedly. Zeal and enthusiasm take over in the body functions and the results of the activities became remarkable and the products, bounteous. Thus, it is the warmth, not the heat of the sun that made it inviolably possible.
At mid-morning, the time when the heat of the sun gradually gains power, it shows kind of defiance to peoples cherished interest. As it advancing to noon or mi-day people get a get bit tired because the heat continues accelerating to develop to noon. Childhood advances to Adolescent the period of dreaming bright future.
It is the time of growth and maturity. In pursuit the bright future, the adolescent can indulge in anything he thinks the right route to his objective-bright future. As the heat of the sun steadily gets stronger and stronger to the extent people fail to tolerate it, so does the adolescent become unruly unless he gets proper guidance and restraining strap on his raging emotion.
As we compare the mid-day heat of the sun with adolescence, the sun advances to its full size, power and beauty, adolescent, too, adjusts to sexually maturing bodies and feelings and the urge gradually grows and forces him to look for a means to satisfy it. Lack of experience in this matter makes him act erratically; in the process his irregular behavior places him at odds with the generally accepted sexual behavior for his age. It is after all the fiery age he is undergoing.
At the same time, he develops and applies abstract thinking skills. He is so enthusiastic to develop and apply new perspective on human relationships innocently, of course. His strong desire to act mature compels him to develop and apply new coping skills in areas such as decision making. He tends to take everything for granted or at face value until his emotionally guide decisions subside and redirected to the long path of maturity. If at this intensive time of uncertainty, to prove his capability and worth, he wants to identify meaningful moral standards, values, and belief systems.
Yet, as the sun inches its way to maturity, mid-day, adolescent will fall on the right track to advance to its full bloom in his behavioral status. At this stage, passion – the strong feeling or enthusiasm especially of love, hate or anger gives way to the capacity of evaluating the situation before acting on it. Here, the mind stretches to the state of managing reasonable moves rather than being driven by the impulse, the uncalculated action of which the result may be unwelcome.
The sun at noon is in its right position to fairly bestow upon creation her bounteous gift sufficiently with less or no excessive heat; the writer is of the conviction that this is very true to those of us who live in the equatorial region. In the morning the sun sends down its golden ray with less burning power, at noon it becomes complete but without significantly harmful heat. Past noon, the situation gets different.
Yes, it is true that the most solar radiation is received when the sun’s rays are vertical (close to noon), however, the earth’s surface takes some time to absorb this heat, and then when it can no longer absorb, it radiates the heat out, and this heat is what increases the temperature. The time it takes for the earth surface to fully absorb the sun’s heat goes beyond the noon and it is what we call afternoon.
The individual becomes mature and no longer adolescent. As the temperature gets much heated up, an adult’s perception of life is based on experiences he has been gathering from the different stages of growth (from babyhood to maturity). At this stage due to experiences he has been gathering, in everything he does, he is cautious rather doubtful.
He does not take things for granted. Hereafter, like the heat of suns gets stronger and stronger, the knowledge of the mature person, likewise, gets deeper and more reliable. In everything he undertakes, as long as he is healthy in mind, sensible and balanced, he becomes successful. It is the time when he is in the heyday of his glory. He can shoulder the family and social responsibilities with confidence and efficacy.
He can produce the desired results expected of him in any job he is assigned to. As the afternoon lingers for a relatively long time it tolerable heat, so does the mature person renders service for his people and the country at large. As the sun’s heat, after mid-afternoon, decrease, man’s strength decreases and eventually becomes weak and lingers for a while and hastens to his grave. Likewise, the sun falls behind the horizon in its setting only to be represented by the moon.
The prime years of the man perhaps is between the age of thirty and fifty. In these years, he imparts his knowledge and skills for the benefit of all including his siblings and the society at large. Thereafter, things begin declining until the man bids farewell to life like the sunset.
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
The Ethiopian Herald June 4/2021
