Look Up

The Kármán line lies 62 miles above sea level marking the end of our atmosphere and the beginning of 'outer space'.

The temperature there is about - 450 degrees F and it is nearly devoid of oxygen or atmospheric pressure. I would die almost instantly if exposed to it.

62 miles is 1.6% of the Earths radius - pretty thin - not a whole lot of protection.

This 'outer space' then goes on for about 98 billion light years. The distance light travels in 98 billion years at a speed of 186,000 miles per second.

I have come to exist on a very small, very fragile globe, this earth, floating in a horrific vacuum surrounded by an immensity I cannot imagine. I live just next door to an ongoing thermonuclear explosion a million times earth's size - our sun - and face forces that could sterilize earth or even vaporize it in an instant. Nearly everything there is in the universe exists outside of my direct experience, outside of earth.

And yet, even knowing this, even after seeing photos of the entire earth floating as a beautiful blue white globe in the blackness of space, or as a pale blue dot from a distance of 3.7 billion miles by voyager - so many of us almost never look up.

Engrossed in shallow human construct, imagined empire building, and incredibly ego-centric naughtiness - we almost never look up.

Earth is everything. Well actually our country is everything. Well actually the length of our noses defines everything. And all the while nearly everything there is - is up. To look up into such immensity, really look, would provide a humility that could only foster tolerance, kindness, and a deep respect for all of life on this tiny planet. We are all in this together - all of life on earth - against immense odds - and we simply must respect our planet and all of life on it if we are to have any chance at survival.

But instead we choose to ignore nearly everything there is and live within the confines of shallow human construct and ignorance.

How very silly

How very fatal