Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky. It's more than 1000 light-years away.
Beyond our sun, it's a BIG universe.
Now try to wrap your mind around something else.
This is a Hubble Telescope ultra deep field infrared view of countless entire GALAXIES billions of light-years away.
Here's a closer look at some of those galaxies.
Humbling, isn't it?  And sobering too.

When we stop to think about it,
putting things in perspective with the rest of the universe,
we can remember we're not the center of it.  

We are floating in space, part of an endless unknown universe, with no sides, no ends, no top or bottom.  It goes on forever, infinitely.  It is filled with mystery, awe and wonders. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

It is where we live.

So the next time you hear one of our elected politicians going on and on, lying to achieve their little goals, crying out for more profitable wars, calling the other guy bad which of course means we are little angels who are oh so good and perfect, think of the universe and ask yourself if anything they're talking about really matters in this world.

It usually doesn't.

It's time for them to get real. 
Life is not a joke.
It's not a game.
It's reality.

Precious and rare.
Irreplaceable.
This is our world.  Our one and only home.
We need to love it and take care of it.
It's reality.  It's everything we have.

Because if it's between our world and lying politicians,
and one or the other has to go,
it's an easy choice to make.

We'd get along just fine without them,
but we can't do without our world.

Now that's putting things in perspective.

pbsBlog.com - The Final Frontier
2008