Carl Sagan's 1994 speech at Cornell

" From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. 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."


—Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

The Beach

Lets be clear, I am still in the journey of finding spiritual peace. There is still some turmoil between my head and my heart about who I owe my existence to. However, I am midst summer vacation with my kids and husband and realize that life, no matter who or where it originated, has much more value than a normal person in our era realizes. Was there ever a time in history when people just ' lived ' ? When did we all get so enthrawled in appearances, riches, and status?

I don't know the answer because as long as I have been able to formulate a thought my surroundings and contemporaries have instilled in me a need and desire to prosper, not in spiritual richness but in material possessions and earthly matters.

My kids are 9, and twins age 4. I must admit that for the past four years, my life has been quite exciting and so busy that I have not stopped to contemplate the beauty in my kids. I've had two full weeks with them during our vacation. We have taken walks on the beach, watched movies together, made cupcakes together, and most importantly talk, just talk.

I have met my kids for the second time. The first time was when they were born, no words, just sounds were exchanged on their part. This time, they shared their feelings, their love and affection. I truly have three wonderful boys! Oh yeah, and one awesome husband!

I believe our Nation needs time to de-stress and meet one another again, in a slow paced, no phones, no computer, no ipod, no blackberry way. To tell you the truth i thought i would never survive two weeks with the boys, but I'm glad i took the plunge. Now, instead of worrying about how I was going to keep them busy and out of my hair, I'm sad, that we only have two more weeks left in our beach vacation.

Rest asure, we will continue to talk, just talk