Heartbeats

That’s all we are.

Each of us, one heartbeat in the life of the universe. One blink of an eye. Insignificant. We exist because of a fluke of nature, where the ingredients of life just happened to meet at the right time, in the right place, to create the primordial soup, which, in turn, created the amoeba, the dinosaurs, birds, mammals, cockroaches, humans, and the Blue Footed Booby.

A miracle. The only one we know of, so far.

We exist on a tiny planet, part of a solar system orbiting a relatively tiny and unremarkable sun, on the edge of a rather small galaxy with an estimated 200 billion suns visible to us, and with, potentially, 60 billion habitable planets. And there are an estimated 100 billion to 2 trillion galaxies in the universe. Whew…

Who do you think you are? Ha, ha, ha, bless your soul, you really think you’re in control? (From the song Crazy, by Gnarls Barkley)

We are so, so, so insignificant and yet remain so, so, so full of ourselves. The center of the universe. Everything revolves around us. Do you really think wars matter? Fighting over lines in the sand? Do you think our politics will matter in a hundred years? In ten years even? Are our politics worth hating over? Do you think material wealth is what’s important to life on this planet? Oh, I get it. Wars, famine, drought, storms, politics, climate change – you name it – certainly create a miserable life for those affected. And wealth can create an “easy” life for those fortunate enough to have it. But none of that matters in the grand scheme of things. In the end, we are all dead. Like the 117 billion who came before us.

Perhaps it’s time to rethink our priorities.

Just ask the dinosaurs. They existed for 165 million years. We’ve been here, in our modern form as homo sapiens, for about 300,000 years. At the rate we’re going, as we destroy this amazing blue sphere located in the middle of nowhere, scientific experts suggest we won’t last another couple of centuries. My guess is that’s optimistic…

We are star stuff. Made up of the same stuff stars are made up of: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. We are energy existing in this current form. We are nothing extraordinary, regardless of what some people might have you believe about themselves.

So, when you hate, argue, fight, disenfranchise or marginalize others about nonsense like race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, wealth – it’s all just nonsense. We are part of the universe as a whole. Created by exactly the same stuff whether we look alike, or act alike, or not. And this little teeny, tiny planet floating around in the unimaginable vastness of space is all we have.

Just think: in another heartbeat, or blink of an eye, you and I will cease to exist. What were we arguing about again?

Live compassionately. Love unconditionally. Share what you have with those less fortunate.

Be kind. We are one.

~jwb~