Remember this, from Carl Sagan....

[LynzM]

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.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe:, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

Perspective is a helpful thing for dealing with stress, sometimes...

[baldguy]

1. Gee, the center of the universe looks so small...

[LynzM]

2. I know, right?

But, but, my problems are so HUGE! Poor me!!

*kicks self in the pants*

[Deja Q]

3. With that perspective, humans need to look out for each other.

Wake me when that happens. :shrug:

:(

[LynzM]

4. I know...

But it actually helps me, sometimes, to remember how small and inconsequential we all are...

In the meantime, I will continue to cultivate relationships with people who do look out for each other, in kind and caring ways. :)

[sazemisery]

5. Mr.sazemisery received the whole series for Christmas...

and we watched that episode last night.

[LynzM]

6. Oh, nice....

I'd love to be able to watch the whole series eventually! I've only watched bits and pieces on YouTube....

[onager]

7. Thanks. Perspective does help...

I'm an American working in Alexandria, Egypt. I like to wander around here and think of those "generals and emperors" who lived right in my neighborhood.

Alexander The Great, of course, since the joint is named for him. He still has his own street downtown, even though Alexandria went Islamic only 20 years after the religion itself was invented. I always smile when I walk down the street named Iskander el-Akbar. (Alexander The Great).

But much earlier, according to legend...and Homer...Paris and Helen Of Sparta--heh--stopped here on their way to Troy. The Egyptians knew they were trouble and sensibly deported them as illegal aliens.

Then on her way back home, Helen and Menelaus supposedly stopped off at Pharos Island. Later the home of the Alexandria Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. (Along with the Great Pyramid, making Egypt the only country with TWO of the Seven Wonders. Not too surprising, since the original Seven Wonders were selected by scholars working at...the ancient Library of Alexandria!)

I can visit the place where Julius Caesar almost drowned, when he was in Alexandria and outnumbered 10-to-1 by the Egyptian Army. He ordered his troops to seize the Lighthouse, which they did. Unfortunately the rest of the island was still occupied by the Egyptians...

That's not far from the spot downtown where Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony committed suicide. Then Caesar Augustus barged into Alexandria, hoping he could pay his army one year's wages by seizing Cleopatra's treasury. In fact, that treasury paid his army for the next 20 years.

Sorry, I get to rambling sometimes....

"a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena..."

Yes, indeed. Thanks again for reminding us!

[LynzM]

8. Oh, wow, dude!

So much history where you are... that's really neat!

Don't you worry about the rambling; it's fascinating! :) :hi:

[onager]

9. Thanks!

I've been lucky, my job has taken me all over the world. Europe, Asia, Middle East. Iowa.

I don't have any original observations about that, unfortunately. About all I can say is, from my own weird personal observations, all over the world we're more alike than different. At least if we can remove stuff like nationalism and religion. Which we don't seem to be able to do much of the time, again unfortunately.

I'm a hardcore atheist and get along famously with the Muslims here. A lot of people find that hard to believe.

Weird flash, you'll have to bear with me on this one...

I just finished reading 1812, a great history about Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The author, Adam Zamowski, dug out a lot of previously unknown accounts of that fiasco.

One French soldier wrote about how he and a few comrades took refuge, freezing and starving, in the home of a Russian peasant family. The family had a baby, who suddenly started calling Mama! Mama! in Russian. Which sounds about the same in French and every other language, I guess.

This just broke the heart of the French soldier: "The first word all of us learn." He picked up the baby and soothed it. Even though nobody in the house spoke the same language, the Russian family certainly got the message. They fed and protected those French soldiers--the "enemy"--for several days.

I believe our common humanity is one of the strongest weapons we have. I just wish we would use it more often. Or something like that.

OK, now I'm really rambling...thanks again for the great post!

[LynzM]

15. Oh, wow...

Nice to know that you can get along with the Muslims there :) I'd be in the same boat you're in!

It's really nice to hear stories like that, and to realize that in some (many? rare? who knows?) instances, humanity triumphs over ideology and prejudice and judgment... :hi: :hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. My dear LynzM!

Thank you for this! It's soooo easy to get caught up in our daily troubles and joys.

We forget that we live on this mote of dust caught in a sunbeam...

Perspective.

That says it all.

This deserves to be on the Greatest Page. You should post it in GD...

K&R

:patriot:

[LynzM]

12. Thanks, CP...

Maybe I will repost in GD... :)

[LynzM]

14. Done!

It's over there, if you want to K&R :)

[Bertha Venation]

11. Excellent.

:hug:

[LynzM]

13. Thanks, dude...

Sometimes, I have to remind myself, yk? :hug: back at ya!

[PassingFair]

16. Gee, that PALE BLUE DOT reminds me of a DU'er....

if only I could remember WHO...

[LynzM]

17. Heh

Yeah, gee, I wonder... :P

[Oeditpus Rex]

18. I adore you

:loveya:

[nytemare]

19. You will love this video with the audio from "Pale Blue Dot".

I watch it every few months or so. It gives me goosebumps, and brings a tear to my eye every time.

:hi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luAteAz3WQ0