One Earth, This Earth, Our Earth.

When I was 19 years old I stepped from a plane onto the ground of Rome, Italy.  I was amazed by a simple truth.  The ground I walked on did not seem any different than the  ground of Utah.  The earth was the same.  I looked up at the sky and noted that the sun, the moon, and the stars seemed the same.

The first difference I noticed was the language spoken of course, but then it was the trees.  They seemed "cultured,"  as if they were pruned and shaped for generations.  Maybe they were.  Then of course was the architecture, which was very old.  But the Earth was the same.

A few years ago we were able to go to Hawaii.  The ground there was more volcanic, and the air warmer and humid, and the sky was not entirely the same.  The sun was higher in the sky, the moon also, and the stars were shifted some with some new stars visible that I normally couldn't see.  Looking out at the blue ocean, I got the feeling of being on an island rather than a continent.  But, I was still the same Earth, this Earth, my home.

Over and over I think I get evidence that we live on one Earth, this Earth, our Earth.