"If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth..." by Arthur C. Clarke

I have recently read "If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth..." by Arthur C. Clarke. For short biography and good bibliography click here.

"When Marvin was ten years old, his father took him through th long, echoing corridors that led up through Administration and Power, until at last they came to the uppermost levels of all and were among the siftly growing vegetaion of the Farmlands. (...) For the first time in his life, he was going Outside."

It is a very nice short story, with a beautiful description of Earth as seen from out there in space. The "lookers" are 10 year old Marvin and his dad, after the two of them left the protected environment of a space settlement, in a pilgrimage to see the planet mother. Mankind in exile, longing for a return that will not happen for some generations, the dream of returning home must be passed from father to son, like an initiation ritual. It is a beautiful idea and a short story that forces the reader to see earth from a different perspective.
It has been included in several anthologies by Arthur C. Clarke, such as Expedition of Earth (1953), Across the Sea of Stars (1959), An Arthur C. Clarke Omnibus (1965), The Nine Billion Names of God (1967), Of Time and Stars: The Worlds of Arthur C. Clarke (1972) and Tales from Planet Earth (1990).