“ 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. ”
Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)
(via spacerules)
What a great quote. The other day I was watching a Discovery Channel special on planets outside of our solar system and on the show, they stated that it would take someone 100,000 years to cross the Milky Way galaxy if they were travelling at the speed of light. 100,000 years! Forget the fact that we can’t come close to travelling at the speed of light. But 100,000 years is about 20x longer than all of recorded human history. And as Dr. Sagan so eloquently put it, the Milky Way is just one galaxy among “billions.”
Warriors of the world, look skyward and see if for a moment you can’t feel what Carl Sagan felt and reconsider your place in this universe, and how you choose to spend your brief time here.
RIP Dr. Sagan. Your wisdom is timely and appropriate.
