(image: photo of Pluto and its satellite [or moon], Charon--taken by Professor Karen Rehbock, University of Hawaii)
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I was angry when the astronomers decided to down-grade Pluto's status from "planet" to something else, so angry that I forgot what the something else is. Boulder? Now Charon can't be a moon. It is a "satellite." Not a single astronomer consulted me before the decision was made. Go figure. Pluto had been my favorite planet in the solar system. It was, after all, the most eccentric planet.
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Pluto's Credit-Score
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When he applied for a loan, the bank
asked him for collateral property it might
seize if he were to default on the loan,
and he offered his share of Jung's collective
unconscious human mind. The bank said
his share, indeed the whole unconscious mind,
vast as it might be, was worthless, at least
in terms of collective human economics.
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He said, "The symbols of what you call
'money' are Jungian." This was a wild
guess on his part, but the bank didn't
quibble with the assertion. It refused
to lend him money. After he left the bank,
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he felt like the planet Pluto must have felt
after it had met with astronomers, who
told it that they no longer considered it
to be a planet. He heard himself say,
out loud, "Well, I don't regard you as
astronomers, so we're even!" He knew
he deserved the disapproving glances
of passersby. He knew Jung, and for
that matter Freud, would suggest that
he was projecting his financial difficulties
onto the inanimate object, Pluto. Still,
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if he were a loan-officer and Pluto
were applying for a loan, he would
approve the loan even without the
collateral of Pluto's moon, Charon.
Pluto wouldn't have to ask twice.
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Copyright 2009 Hans Ostrom
