Carl Sagan (1934 – 1996), was a famous scientist, astronomer, and visionary for his time. I was recently referred to one of his videos which I found profound and worthy of some discussion. You can check out the video on YouTube via the following link:
What struck me was the realization that every human we have ever known or heard of, every war, every hero, every villain, every drop of blood, shares in common one home, planet Earth. Everything and anything related to our history relates to only one tiny place in the universe, Earth. From one perspective Earth is simply a microscopic pale blue dot in the universe, but from another , is the only place that we know can support our human existence now and realistically for some time to come. There is no likelihood of help coming our way from any neighbor or other celestial body in our universe. This is our home, our children’s home and so forth, for as long as we take care of it.
A brief history of humanity on Earth reminds us of how much blood was shed for seemingly no good purpose, how many lives were lost based on the illusion that some considered themselves as deities and somehow of greater importance than the rest of us. As he so well states, “..it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot.”
I felt from the video another call to action to not only save ourselves which is the primary focus of my work with personal growth and self-discovery, but to save our planet Earth. One way to be more kind to each other is to learn how to first deal with our own issues which often result in anger, prejudice, bias, fear and ego. One thing I believe is true, the way to kindness is to first become kind to yourself. Someone with a high degree of self-respect is not prone to hurt others.
I find this particularly true of those in leadership roles. Their decisions impact thousands if not millions and billions of lives. There are so few examples today of selfless and caring leaders, willing to put society and life above themselves. There is a crisis in leadership today. Just watch the headlines as we learn about the misconduct, greed and lies we experience from those in leadership roles. And these are the role models for our children today.
In any case, I discovered another key reason to promote personal growth and self-discovery, saving plant Earth for our children and future generations!
