“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”
Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Sometimes it’s comforting to me to think that I’m made of stars.
I’ve talked before about how I don’t believe in God. But I believe in the universe, and the power that it holds. The universe is a vast and mighty thing. And I’m an itty bitty speck in it. But I carry the stars with me.
The vastness of the universe scares some people. But it really doesn’t me. Some people look at the stars and feel small. I feel at home.
At one point in my life, a time long long ago, I was destined to fly. And I wanted to fly among the stars. And even though that never happened, I’m still kind of flying, hurtling through space and time on this great rock.
So yeah, I find comfort in the stars. They help me remember my place in this huge void. And they remind me that I’m important – even if I’m not important to the whole world, I’m important to some people. They remind me that my creation was pure chance, a very different me could be sitting somewhere else in the world right now, and that life is what I make of it.
