The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.

Ille listened to the rich, warm voice talk about something called the Viking mission. She wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but she loved the voice as it talked about Earth. The file was from her five times great grandmother, carried on board by an empty 3 player. Most of the other files were corrupt, but this one played just fine.

Our imagined self-importance, the delusion we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.

She felt the generation ship’s vast engines thrum beneath the titanium floor plates as she looked out her tiny window into space and wondered what Earth had been like. It seemed impossible, a whole planet just for people.

It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the only home we’ve ever known.

Settling more comfortably, she set the file on repeat and squinted into the distance imagining she could see the Pale Blue Dot.