In the novel, In Desert and Wilderness, Henryk Sienkiewicz remarks, “…he began to fear whether in the presence of far greater events, all his acts would not fade into insignificance, just as a drop of rain disappears into the sea.”On the Cosmic Calendar, the average human life span is only about two tenths of a second, transforming my 20 years of life into a mere .05 seconds. On this type of scale, a scale on which the pyramids were build in 11 seconds and dinosaurs were the universe’s Christmas present, it’s rather easy to feel as if one’s .05 seconds are a simple drop of rain in the sea. But as Neil deGrasse Tyson reminds us, we are stardust. That means were are inherently connected and a part of the sprawling, intricate, magnificent universe that has seen the birth and death of stars, the colliding of planets, and the rise of life on Earth. We cannot separate ourselves from the story of the universe, because it is also our story. While my entire life thus far may have occurred in the last .05 seconds before the clock strikes midnight, that means that the rest of my life is the very beginning of a brand new year, one that will encompass another 14-billion years and the remarkable evolution and excitement that may come with it.
to *astronomy 2110* and beyond 
Gabi! This post is awesome. I recently visited the Museum of Natural History over winter break, where there is a really cool exhibit about this exact idea. It’s essentially a winding loop that is two stories high, and you walk down it while learning about the history of the universe. It’s really interesting until you get to the last centimeter of the exhibit and see a small “Human Life Begins” printed. Although that exhibit made me feel small, your post made me realize again that although our time on Earth has been short, our lives, discoveries and decisions are all still extremely important. Thanks for writing!
Paxton
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I guess that even though individually we don’t account for much of the universe, neither does anything else. If alien life exists, they probably make up just as much physical matter as us. Even stars don’t account for even a billionth of a percent of the universe, but as you said, we’re still part of the universe. If anyone one of us were to actually just disappear, no matter how insignificant, that’s still part of the universe that has disappeared forever.
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Hi Grader, This is great as it makes me feel big and small at the same time. Thinking about the bigger or smaller implications of our actions is scary, but being able to think about the future of the universe is marvelous in its own right.
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