Morning Reflections on Humanity and Our “Pale Blue Dot”

“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.”

Nearly 27 years since Voyager 1 captured the image of our “Pale Blue Dot,” before turning and leaving for the fringes of the solar system, Carl Sagan’s narrative is more important than it has ever been.

Turn on the news or scroll your Facebook/Twitter feed today, and whether it’s war or politics, marches, riots or local violence, the majority of what we’re seeing is scary and depressing. Volatile and confrontational. Family and friends are battling with words behind the shadow of the internet over misinformation and conflicting visions of our collective future.

We have to remember, that drama is profitable. The media sells conflict for ratings. We can’t let the violence-saturated news influence our views on the world, its peoples, and our perspectives on experiencing our one life as a conscious, singular human race.

We all have dreams, wants, wills, and needs. We all crave to feel love and acceptance. We all hurt and know sadness. What happened to the golden rule? To treat others as you would want to be treated? When did some imagined self-importance and over inflated ego overtake common decency and moral kindness? We are all the same underneath.

Can we take a step back and breathe? Can we look at the world from far away and realize our true place on this humble stage in the universe?

We can only grow when we accept what is different and make an effort to understand. We have to become comfortable with the unknown and see the glass of our world as half full. I believe that to travel is the best way to awaken. When you leave your bubble, your echo-chamber, and truly experience the world, only then can you begin to appreciate all the beauty in it and understand that it is worth preserving. We can’t all go to space, and we will never experience first-hand the image captured by Voyager 1 on February 14, 1990. But we can all travel.

It is our responsibility as the most powerful and influential species to ever walk the Earth, this “Pale Blue Dot,” to protect the very land we walk, the waters we swim, and to cherish all life for the miracle that it is.

Jonathan Ronzio
Jonathan Ronzio

Founder & Host

Founder, Explore Inspired | CMO, Trainual | Co-Host of The Stokecast Podcast | Mountain Athlete | Award-Winning Adventure Filmmaker | Keynote Speaker

1 Comment
  1. Beautifully said. “Drama is profitable”-yes. And addictive. Our bodies evolved to seek limitless sugar but now that calories are, for many of us, no longer scarce, the abundance is the greater threat. Similarly, our social brains evolved to seek drama so we could gain important insights into the thoughts and feelings of others in order to collaborate with them and form communities to improve our safety or hunting capacity. Like sugar, the abundance of this drama is also unhealthy. Despite the heartbreak in the world, we live longer, we fill the world with evolutionary luxuries like art music and acts of beauty and kindness. Thanks for this inspiring purpose for travel: to realize the beauty in variety and that the majority of people are kind and fair.

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