Being A Meaningful Human Being

JUST YESTERDAY a space probe of humans origins went streaking up to and around the three billion mile distant planet(oid) Pluto, - which used to be a planet but no longer is - snapping great photos, gathering an avalanche of data which will take months to send back to Earth. The pictures are already amazing, and pictures of planets orbiting other stars are becoming more and more amazing by the day. No matter how bad things are for you, no matter how many personal problems you may have, even if you are totally depressed, you should try to find a way to rejoice in the Pluto probe. Why? Because it means that your life is meaningful, in a new way, a cosmic way. It means that you are part of a life form which can extend itself beyond its humble origins, and reach out into the cosmos itself, seeking. We can begin to traverse the universe. And who knows where that will lead? We are more than dumb animals, we are more than infants. We have grown, and are growing up, and no matter who you are or what you think you should be, you are a part of this process, an integral, vital part, part of this incredible, sublime, miraculous process of evolution. And yet, for some reason, nobody cares. As usual, a miraculous achievement in science and space exploration is being largely ignored by the American people. Maybe this isn't surprising, or shouldn't be. Tens of millions of us should turn off reality TV, CSI wherever, or a football game or two, for, say an hour a day, and use that time to log onto "Astronomy Picture of the Day", and to contemplate the glory, the importance, and the value of being a human being, no matter how horribly we sometimes behave, or how big the universe turns out to be.