From a scientific point of view, "Lightning is a massive electrostatic discharge between electrically charged regions within clouds, or between a cloud and the Earth's surface".
But from a human point of view it's more complex than that. Since the beginnings of our existence, we've been fascinated with that fire falling from the sky. We worshipped it, we cursed it, we revered it, we hated it.
And how could we not? For on every journey to our land, the lightning brought us something:
- Glass and subsequently windows (XP, Vista, 7, you name it)
Image from an awesome article about fulgurites.
- Light
Image from Daily Mail, check this out for more gorgeous images of lightnings
- Fire
This gorgeous photograph
- Electricity
Image from a great article
- Life
Image from here
Those were two bad jokes in a row. I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it.
Anyway, my point is that lightning, from a human point of view has always been a mythical instrument of the Universe to... well... punish us, most of the time. (Though I did read somewhere an old folk tale about the the fact that every time the lightning strikes, a devil has been struck by a saint. I can't remember anything else, other than the fact that it was complicated.)
However, the lightning is almost always seen as a tool rather than an entity. So, how about a story about the lightning? I was thinking about its journey. How does it come here? Why does it come here? Where from? Who is this lightning?
P.S. I found this blog while researching for this entry and... well... I know what I'll be reading for the next few days.
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