Whether you are a club member or a loner like me, I hope you will commit - as I have committed - to set up at least two or three times for the benefit of people in public places this year. Even if there is light pollution, there are still the Pleiades, M42, Saturn, the double cluster, the Swan, etc.<br><br>2009 IYA recalls 1957 - the International Geophysical Year. After 1957, social studies and geography took new meaning in classrooms everywhere, perhaps being the spark for the 1960s social revolution. <br><br>This is the time that you and I can make a difference for someone who sees us looking through the eyepiece of a telescope in a parking lot. <br> <br>I go into the new year believing that if thousands of people want to make a difference, some will succeed. It may be one of us who plants the seed in the mind of the next Einstein, Hubble, or Sagan.<br><br>We must never forget that sharing our joy illuminates those around us. We forget that humble beginnings - like those of Pastor Billy Graham for example - began with a veritable "nobody" who thought enough to share with someone else.<br><br>Let's all do our part.