Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for February 17, 2014
February 14, 2014
February 21, 2014
Transcript:
Consider again that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was... Lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering. Thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines. Every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization. Every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species... lived there... on a mote of dust suspended in sunbeam. The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic area. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph... they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstanding, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The earth is the only wold known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes... settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. 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. -Carl Sagan
Chrystos B Minot Premium Member about 10 years ago
This one brought tears to my eyes. Bravo, to Carl, and to you.
tmt about 10 years ago
I second your comment, Chrystos.
electricshadow Premium Member about 10 years ago
ART Thompson Premium Member about 10 years ago
Agreed. Loved the Napoleon. Living down the block from his last Palace in his futile quests.
j2p2 about 10 years ago
The moment I saw the boy, I knew whence the quote had come. Bravo indeed!
ladykat about 10 years ago
Wonderful!!
batfan13 about 10 years ago
Bravo!
T_Lexi about 10 years ago
Fabulous!
queenkimmie about 10 years ago
Beautiful! Now, let’s see if we can all remember this as we go through our daily lives.
posse1 Premium Member about 10 years ago
Love it, love it, love it! I’ve just recently discovered Zen Pencils & am so glad I did. Great artwork
716PMedGuy about 10 years ago
well said Carl
Thehag about 10 years ago
Spread this over our ‘pale blue dot’ and hope it makes a difference….. Believe it will make a difference.
blanche64 about 10 years ago
very nice, but as a librarian it would have been nice to see a less stereotypical representation.
caseyman about 10 years ago
Can’t identify the young woman directly behind Shakespeare. I’d guess Emiy Dickinson but the hairstyle is wrong. Any one else care to guess?
celeconecca about 10 years ago
Anne Frank.
This is wonderful – again. I want this as a poster.
digitydigitydigity about 10 years ago
I was thinking Anne Frank was behind Shakespeare. The ones I can’t figure out are the people next to Elvis, Michael Jackson and Bruce Lee
Tinozzi about 10 years ago
Inspirational. Thank you!
caseyman about 10 years ago
Thanks, folks, definitely Anne Frank
Can’t say exactly which ones you mean but starting from the bottomCharlie ChaplinAmelia EarhartIsaac NewtonGandhiHelen KellerAung San Suu KyiJohn Kennedy Muhammedi Ali
Does this help?
Darwinskeeper about 10 years ago
I love the quote and the artwork.
shamest Premium Member about 10 years ago
always great thoughts
Ushindi about 10 years ago
Makes me think of the view of the Earth and moon from Mars taken by Curiosity. Gave me a strange feeling to think there were billions of us all busy doing something at that moment on that little bright speck in the sky.
dankelly57 about 10 years ago
It’s true that knowledge builds understanding and erodes fear.I thank you for encouraging the spread of knowledge.
Richard V Anderson about 10 years ago
Simply brilliant!
Darryl Heine about 10 years ago
Ode to Carl Sagan…
vldazzle about 10 years ago
Brought a tear to my eye. Bravo!
Rocky Premium Member about 10 years ago
Outstanding…And the artwork is such that I could identify almost every person in the fourth panel.Keep it up.
topbunk about 10 years ago
Mr. Sagan wrote a great book with this title.
topbunk about 10 years ago
http://petapixel.com/2013/03/25/the-pale-blue-dot-a-portrait-of-earth-shot-from-more-than-4-billion-miles-away/
This link will take you to a web site that will put this quote in perspective… no pun intended.
scootergrrrl about 10 years ago
and the truth be said…….
popomatic about 10 years ago
That is a hell of a group of people. Excellent quote
ee1958 about 10 years ago
Thanks so much for this. Perspective is always needed.
YokohamaMama about 10 years ago
This is just beautiful.