In his final years, Sagan recalled a “blustery fall day” when he was about age five, looking out the living room window at Lower New York Bay. The water was choppy and the sun was about to set. His mother came by the window and they gazed toward the Atlantic Ocean. On the other side of the sea, World War II was beginning. “There are people fighting out there, killing each other,” she told him. Carl replied: “I know. I can see them.” She fired back: “No, you can’t. They’re too far away.”

This seemingly trivial incident gnawed at Sagan. His adoring mother had contradicted him! He later wrote: “How could she know whether I could see them or not? … Squinting, I had thought I’d made out a thin strip of land at the horizon on which tiny figures were pushing and shoving and dueling with swords as they did in my comic books.”

In honor of Carl Sagan, who died ten years ago today.

Labels: Carl Sagan, Comics Enriched Their Lives