Oh Hostile World?

A poem by WWII fighter pilot John Gillespie Magee Jr., and famously quoted by Ronald Regan in response to the Challenger explosion charachterizes the bond of earth as "surly."

Surly, according to Dictionary.com:

sur·ly   /ˈsɜrli/ [sur-lee]
–adjective, -li·er, -li·est.
1. churlishly rude or bad-tempered: a surly waiter.
2. unfriendly or hostile; menacingly irritable: a surly old lion.
3. dark or dismal; menacing; threatening: a surly sky.


Excuse Mr. Gillespie and Regan, but I beg to differ. Have you looked out your window today? Or ever?

Please, tell me what is hostile about this:



And unfriendly about this:



And dark and dismal?



You may yearn to slip the "surly bonds of Earth" to "touch the face of God," gentlemen. In the meantime, I'll be down here frolicking in all of the hostile, unfriendly, dark and dismal beauty of this planet.