I have recently stumbled upon the book "Contact" by Dr. Carl Sagan. I had heard of him before and I knew he was an astronomer, science fiction writer, and an individual who brought his love of science and space to the public eye. I knew the name, so I decided to give the book a try. I checked it out from my public library; it is a 1985 copy, old and worn. My love of old books had me perplexed as I skimmed through. How many people have read this before me? How many have been amazed by the words on these now yellow pages? As I began to read I realized I was going to love the book, the main character, and what Sagan had to say. It isn't just this one book that has left me in awe and in love with what I have read. If you type in Carl Sagan online you get countless quotes from his countless works that will leave you feeling spectacular. I am a lover of space and stories and even thought it isn't my strongest subject, science. I also know that I am not the only one. Humans in general love big ideas that challenge us, we love to imagine, we love to read stories, and we love to look up at the night sky and wonder what is truly out there. This huge, spectacular phenomenon of loving these ideas is touched on by one simple quote from Sagan. It reads that we are ourselves star stuff.
"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 star stuff."
Pretty cool huh? Is that why we are so intrigued by space? Or could it be that even though we are advancing in science and technology, we still cannot venture out past our moon and our spacecraft takes years just to get out of the solar system? The truth is, the Universe is enormous and we are very very tiny. This idea is majestic but also a little scary. Are we truly alone in the Universe? Is there a reason for this? When you sit out and look at the stars or think of ideas like this, it is truly amazing to think of all we know as a society. Of all the information about science and technology, yet we still don't know everything. We still have things to unravel, to understand, to discover. Apart from science we also have minds that aren't constricted by the Laws of Nature. With our minds, or our imaginations, we can travel the Galaxy, we can witness the death of stars, we can meet aliens, and we can all be the heroes. As humans we crave stories, stories that challenge our minds to open up and think. There is another quote by Carl Sagan that I will end with but before I do I will leave you with one last thought. You and me and everything on this Earth is made of stuff from stars; you are amazing. Day to day life can be boring or stressful, but remember that your mind is endless and so is the Universe. The next big answer in science, the next novel, or the next great invention can come from you.
"Everything amazing about the Universe is inside of you. And the two are inseparable" - Carl Sagan.
