Stardust
Something about the stars fills me with wonder. Just like it did to philosophers like Galileo and Copernicus. Not that I mean to consider myself akin to these great philosophers, but that throughout history, humankind has looked to the sky with questions on religion, science, mathematics and our existence on our small, seemingly insignificant planet.
We travelled to the southeast of Morocco to the village of Merzouga from Ouarzazate. Merzouga is actually in the Sahara desert and on the edge of Erg Chebbi, a 50 km area of sand dunes and some not so sandy parts. We trekked a few miles into the dunes by camel, climbed one of the taller dunes and watched the sunset. Afterwards, we rode the camels over to our campsite for the night. We danced to the beat of the drums played by our Berber hosts, ate a sumptuous dinner that was too extravagant for the desert, and when it all went quiet, we lay on the desert sand and stared up into the sky. Now, I’ve seen some starry skies before, and I’ve watched for shooting stars and traced constellations. But this—this sky—it was the clearest, most amazing sky I’d ever seen in my entire life.
We counted at least 10 shooting stars in the few hours we lay there. I imagined me lying down on our small planet, surrounded by stars. Not as me looking up, but me as part of this night sky. How insignificant life feels on this grand scale! Me, a speck, a tiny, insignificant speck of stardust. What purpose does my life play in this vast nothingness? Why do we, humans, feel like an elite race?
But I am reminded that the smallest particles that we are able to perceive are indeed vital pieces of our existence puzzle. So it must mean that somehow, our lives play an equally vital role in that of our universe. Yet we constantly remove ourselves from the system in which we were meant to be part of. We kill, we plunder, we destroy our own world. We create our own man-made systems that continuously break nature’s cycles.
I rediscovered my role in society that night. As insignificant as my existence might be in the grander scheme of things, my life should contribute to creating a balanced world, one where we exist as part of nature and not to commandeer it. My role as a speck of stardust is to ensure that there will be others gazing at this wondrous sky, asking these same questions, for years and years to come.