On Naming Worlds…

Let’s face it, the settling of worlds is a serious business. Colonists have to be a sturdy, determined lot. There’s not a lot to laugh at when you’re meeting the unexpected and unpredictable. It could kill you. Oh sure, all the planets are checked out by the Colonization Bureau, but they can’t guarantee they’ve covered all the variables. Only the people that eventually meet a world on a day-to-day basis can do that. You have to be adaptable. There’s not much to smile at when you’re walking a tightrope of existence. Still, mankind must laugh or go insane. Their most difficult, most serious endeavors can ignite a flicker of levity. Man laughs at his own seriousness. Hence the banality of names of a myriad of worlds. Man pokes out his tongue in the face of a deadly foe, the opposing planet, and shows his scorn by naming it lightly.