I drove from Nashville to Little Rock this evening and saw not one but two shooting stars. I immediately wished upon both––then wondered where this universally shared impulse originally came from.

Apparently, the ancient Greek philosopher, Ptolemy, hypothesized that shooting stars occurred when the gods parted the heavens to look down upon humankind.

This parting jostled loose a star or two and caused them to fall from where they were first pinned.

The Greeks believed that a wish made after witnessing a shooting star was more likely to come true because the gods were within earshot.

Ptolemy's shooting star is a reminder that each of us are given the privilege to apply positive meaning to whatever it is we choose.