In what seems to be a trend this year, my Christmas presents have been arriving earlier than expected. My buddy out in LA a few weeks ago sent me the Universe series that aired on the History Channel earlier this year. It's humbling to think how small we are in the scheme of the cosmos. Imagine an oval-shaped sandbox 20 feet in diameter, the sand twelve inches deep at the center and thinning out toward the edges. The Earth would be nothing more than a microscopic speck of dust attached to one of the grains of sand in that sandbox. And that would be just the Milky Way galaxy. Now imagine the rest of the Earth completely covered and filled with sandboxes, and you begin to get some idea of the dimensions of the Universe. For some time, humans have been consumed with the idea of space travel and making contact with extraterrestrials. I'm not one to kill off anyone's sense of curiosity when it comes to outer space, but it does seem to me just a bit ironic that humans on this side of the ocean can't even communicate with humans on the other side unless violence and bloodshed are involved. It saddens me when HIV- humans refuse to acknowledge me, or even worse, seek to isolate me socially and physically because I am HIV+. The Earth is a universe in microcosm with countless galaxies that need to be bridged; frontiers that beg to be explored; hearts and souls that wait to be discovered. If only we could be brave enough. To go to these places where no one has gone before. No one is arguing we should abandon the dream of ascertaining the existence of life on Jupiter's moons. As long as we don't forget that life already exists--and should be celebrated--on our very own planet.
Friday, December 14, 2007
The Universe Expands Into Nothing Which Is Something
In what seems to be a trend this year, my Christmas presents have been arriving earlier than expected. My buddy out in LA a few weeks ago sent me the Universe series that aired on the History Channel earlier this year. It's humbling to think how small we are in the scheme of the cosmos. Imagine an oval-shaped sandbox 20 feet in diameter, the sand twelve inches deep at the center and thinning out toward the edges. The Earth would be nothing more than a microscopic speck of dust attached to one of the grains of sand in that sandbox. And that would be just the Milky Way galaxy. Now imagine the rest of the Earth completely covered and filled with sandboxes, and you begin to get some idea of the dimensions of the Universe. For some time, humans have been consumed with the idea of space travel and making contact with extraterrestrials. I'm not one to kill off anyone's sense of curiosity when it comes to outer space, but it does seem to me just a bit ironic that humans on this side of the ocean can't even communicate with humans on the other side unless violence and bloodshed are involved. It saddens me when HIV- humans refuse to acknowledge me, or even worse, seek to isolate me socially and physically because I am HIV+. The Earth is a universe in microcosm with countless galaxies that need to be bridged; frontiers that beg to be explored; hearts and souls that wait to be discovered. If only we could be brave enough. To go to these places where no one has gone before. No one is arguing we should abandon the dream of ascertaining the existence of life on Jupiter's moons. As long as we don't forget that life already exists--and should be celebrated--on our very own planet.
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