My wish for the new year

I’ve been on a science kick lately, specifically revolving around astronomy and astrophysics.

Pioneered by Carl Sagan but sustained by Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson, the public education of science and this kick I’ve been on have taught me more over the past the couple of months about life than I have probably learned throughout my entire life.

What space travel teaches us, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, is that in the grand scheme of life in our universe, we humans are just a small piece of the puzzle.

As one small point in our milky way, we seem very insignificant.

However as humans, we have the capacity to be rational, sensible, logical creatures that evolve and adapt with our surroundings. We may be a small part of the universe, but our cognition is no less discredible.

We get too bogged down in heated debates and scorching arguments, radiating discourses and searing discussions to realize what is our common thread.

We are all from the same species; we are all human. When we see ourselves as humans first, and Muslims, Jews, or Christians second, the meaning of life comes clearer into focus. When we think about space travel, these so-called “conflicts” seem trivial, unimportant as compared to the vast openness of our universe.

We must come together as participants in the game we call life, to help each other live productive lives. Why? Because that is what it means to be human. Anything less, is inhumane.

My wish, for the coming year, is that we all take steps in 2015 and in the future, to find more similarities with those around us, with those we argue with, and with those who we do not agree with.