Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, December 20, 2007


Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant
planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away
in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there
are far more galaxies than people.

- Carl Sagan, scientist, teacher & author, who
died on this day, 1996, age 62


Are you feeling insignificant today? Useless? Dumb? Unproductive? A failure? Life meaningless?

Does Dr. Sagan’s quote make you feel worse?

It should make you feel better! It does me. You’d think that being where we are in the Universe, we’d be destined for the deepest pit of everything really awful. But not so.

The Senegalese poet and president, Leopold Senghor, died on this day, age 95, in 2001. I remember, a young pup of a monk of 25 or so, in the early 70’s, flying east into the night from London to Dakar airport, Senegal, on my way to Liberia. As is still true, there are great patches of blackness when flying over the World. I had heard of Dr. Senghor, and had bought a book of his poetry to read on the flight. I looked out of the window, to see the glittering lights of Dakar like a gauzy bright mushroom in the blackness.

Amazing, both the poetry and the vibrant life. Since those days, perhaps before, I find everything more and more amazing. Not just the technology, my cow-tissue aortic valve, wireless communication, all the “new” stuff. But perhaps even more, the “old” stuff. If I close my eyes, my grandmother’s garden is before me, and I wonder at those glorious gladioluses tall and bright, and the “wild” tiger lilies swaying in the wind.

I’m looking forward to getting older, however long or short that may be. I anticipate being more and more filled with amazement and delight, listening to a violin player on a summer evening in Cortona, watching the Space Station float by among the stars.

“Lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a Universe”?

Irrevelant.

Brian+