Gay Marriage, Bain Capital, Entitlements, deficits, Westboro Baptist
Church, children murdered execution
style in Syria…
… but stop for a moment to look at the photograph below – It
was taken by the Voyager I spacecraft, the first man-made object
to leave our solar system, shortly before it turned it’s camera toward ‘home’ to snap one final photograph before continuing it's journey.
“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.” - Carl Sagan
14 comments:
So amazing. Thank you for the thought.
A humbling experience everyone should take to heart. We are just stardust floating through space and not nearly as important as we think we are.
If humanity has one truly fatal weakness it is our inability to see beyond what is just in front of our noses.
Call me extremely weird and naive but I cannot look at the picture and not wonder why others do not see how damn small and how stupid our tribes, religions, nations, corporations, and just about any other human accomplishment truly are.
Kitten We are enjoying following your travels. Be safe!
Jono and Beach Bum I find myself guilty of falling into such myopia at times as well. In 5 Billion years, our sun will expand, burning away in totality every trace of life that ever existed on this planet. We have only this moment in which to exist.
I look at the Astronomy Picture of the Day every morning to remind myself and get a bit of perspective. Sagan said it very well, and having never read that before, I appreciate you posting it.
I can't help but recall the old song "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas.
The way things are going right now, I wonder why it's gonna take 5 billion years.
Great reminder to put us in our place. Our proper place....
Who can see that and not realize that we do not have all of the answers, we tiniest of tiny specks on a tiny speck in a vast universe?
It actually reminds me of Dr. Suess' book, "Horton Hears a Who"
@chlost" Great analogy!!! I love Dr. Seuss.
That's wonderful. I believe I need to steal this for FB.
DJan What a cool thing to do, I should look at the daily photo as well. Thank you for the suggestion.
Kay Yes, "Dust In The Wind" is most profound. I love it.
Chlost I wonder if Suess was trying to convey the same sentiment? The analogy is very close indeed.
SecretAgent Please do... it seems that now is a very good time to suggest we stop a moment and just look UP!
The real marvel is that we were able to create to Voyager I and the camera to shine our insignificance in the universe back at ourselves.
the first time i watched his blue dot video i was awestruck.
i wonder if sagan would have been able to get the word verification right on the first try?
Yes, we are just specks in the universe. And we think we're so important that there is a God that cares about who we marry.
It certainly does make you stop and think, that is for sure! :)
Post a Comment