We humans. We live a tiny little insignificant life in the grand expanse of existence. Given the greater scheme of things. We are but blips.
The earth is 4.5 billion years old.
Life began here 3.8 billion years ago.
Humans finally stood up and started walking on this ball about 200,000 years ago. Homo sapiens.
So if you want to see how little… humans have been around for a mere 0.004% of the Earth’s history.
And your life and mine? The average expectancy for a human in the United States of “Make It Great Again” America… is 78.74 years. Unless Kim and Donny get out their rocket launchers today.
Blip. Blip. Blip.
Outside of our Sun, our system’s nearest neighbor is Alpha Centauri. (It is actually three stars.). And, it lies 4.37 light years from us. From our Sun.
That’s a long way away. We don’t know what is out there, with Alpha Centauri. There could be another completely unimaginable existence, with life, and energy, and big thinking. Way bigger than our little noodles.
If we think there couldn’t be other things elsewhere.. … ….. that we humans are the big show… ? Well, we might be a tiny bit egomaniacal and sanctimonious.
But let’s get. Back to that 78.74 years. That is the only existence we know and understand at this point. We are living it. So we only know what we only know. (See earlier comment about Little Noodles.)
For those of us who have been with someone when they died, we probably all have very different experiences. I have done this twice. In both cases, I do not think the person was “wanting” to leave. Until that last very little moment. That blip. And then they were gone.
From here.
Away from here.
I started out writing this with the intention of talking about the difference between Introverts and Extroverts. We went to the HIT Holiday Dinner last night, and had the good fortune of sitting with a delightful couple. We spent the evening engaged in enjoyable, thought-provoking conversation. Two couples. Two pairs of Introverts-Extroverts. All four of us viewing that “time” very differently, depending on our personalities. But I think, all of us were glad for that experience.
As I reflected on this, I also became aware of past experiences when I did not enjoy my time spent with others. It seemed like whatever the “party” or “dinner” or “function” was something to “endure.” A struggle of time.
Our time here, those 78.74 years. To someone who is 1.74 years old, it may seem like a long way off. To another who is 77.74, it probably feels fleeting.
How do we want to spend our blips? With people who are spiteful, or judgmental, or uncaring? Unkind? Or with the ones who are warm, fuzzy, and wonderful? Or simply with ourselves, sometimes?
Maybe, for the next 60 seconds or so, we can all be aware of this thought in time. And be thankful for it.
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“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
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