Perspective

I recently saw a picture of our galaxy. The picture showed thousands, if not millions, of stars and planets. There was a large arrow on the picture pointing to a tiny dot with the caption, “You are here”. Keep in mind that each of us is a tiny dot on the tiny dot. It took hundreds of millions, if not billions, of years to create our galaxy. The average lifespan of a human being is approximately 75 years. I am not telling you this to make you feel insignificant. I am telling you this to make a point about the value of perspective. The poet Robert Frost summarizes the meaning of life when he wrote that “it goes on”. Time waits for no one. Most days I hear at least one person, and sometimes it’s me, complain about how their day is just dragging. Many of us seem to experience this on a regular basis. Then you wake up one day and ten years of your life is gone. The perception of time can widely vary from person to person. However, I digress. Let’s get back to perspective. Considering the each of us is a collection of particles and that we are dots within a dot on a map of our galaxy, maybe we need to stop taking ourselves so seriously. Maybe we need to re-evaluate the importance of some of the things we do along with how we spent our time. This is not to say that our lives are not important. Many people do many good and important things. Lots of people make a difference in life regardless of how much this life affects the entire galaxy. Scientists believe that all of the particles that make up each of us will continue to be part of the cosmos even when we die. Some believe that everyone who ever lived is still part of everything that is around us. The mysteries of the galaxy and of life are more than I can comprehend. Maybe we’re just supposed to enjoy it.