Perspective

Taken from a geostationary satellite, this is home.  If we could all launch ourselves to that altitude, climb inside the tiny orbiting station from which this shot was taken, and just contemplate what it is we're seeing, we'd come back with a new perspective on everything.  And here's the beauty of it: We can go there, because the human mind is capable of taking us there.  Think about it.  That satellite is above our heads, roughly 22,000 miles high, constantly falling toward earth, thus in a stationary orbit.  Humans generated the idea of such a mechanical device; humans worked out the math and physics to make it happen; humans built the device, the launch vehicle for it, and the peripheral support mechanisms to allow it to send us images just like the one above.  That was the difficult part.

Or was it?  Could it be that the tough part is realizing just how much power the ordinary human intellect has to look at the world in front of us, and to see the possibilities--good and bad--that present themselves to us?  The truth is, that we can launch ourselves to those heights, and higher, in our imaginations if we choose to.  The only things holding us back are the crushing gravity of prejudice, mistrust, doubt, and the heaviest burden of all, fear.  If fear had won the battle with those who dreamed this little satellite, and all the new perspective it could offer, this image wouldn't exist.  If fear had won, well...