Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
It’s something to think about.
Last night was a beautifully clear night in Brooklyn Park and you could see the stars fairly well, ignoring all the light pollution. Orion stood guard high in the sky. The Big Dipper pointing towards the North Star, guiding people along their way. Jupitar hanging high in the air suspended amongst the constellations.
The whole time I’m looking up, I can’t help but wonder when we’ll meet the next race that is out there. There’s no way we can be alone in this Universe, it’s too big and too vast and far too arrogant of a thought to even consider that we’re alone.
It will be both exciting and scary when we meet travelers from a distant planet or distant star system. It will be an entirely new experience. I hope that we are up to the challenge. If the way we act towards each other is any indication, it’s not going to go well and the odds of starting an interstellar war are damn high. Let’s see if we can avoid that.
Today is St. Valentine’s Day; a day meant for love. Let’s expand on that idea bit. Don’t just love your significant other, try to love everybody. Try to forgive and understand. Try to empathize. Try to do this every day, not just today.
On our pale blue dot, floating in space, so fragile, so small compared to the universe. It’s the only home that we have. Let’s see if we can’t make it a little more like home and spread love all around.
