Throughout our lives there are many people who impact us in many ways. In most cases, and certainly in mine, our parents play a great part in who or what we become. Sometimes the influential people are those we meet and, other times they are those we never meet but we know through the media.

Beginning with the television series Cosmos, Carl Sagan became one of those who was not only influential, but also inspirational. Long interested in space – several family members, including my mother, were involved in the space program – Cosmos opened my eyes to the wonders of astronomy and, though I do not get out and do it enough, I still enjoy an evening of “stargazing” when the chances come.

In awe of the wonders to be found right here on the planet that is our home, through Cosmos (and later Pale Blue Dot) I found that I was more aware of them, too. For me, at least, I learned to look at things in new and positive ways and developed a more acute sense of the fragility of life in all its forms.

I would like to share one particular passage from Dr. Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot. It is something I have read countless times and it never fails to send a chill up my spine when I read it:

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and, I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

The Carl Sagan websites

Suggested reading:

Cosmos
The Demon Haunted World
Pale Blue Dot

And if you have never seen the television series you should rent, buy, or borrow the complete Cosmos. It is "reality TV".

The Carl Sagan Memorial Blog-A-Thon

Wife Ann Druyan's shares some of her memories in Ten Times Around the Sun Without Carl and son Nick Sagan's blog post, Memories of My Dad is here.