Who are we, if not measured by our impact on others? That’s who we are! We’re not who we say we are, we’re not who we want to be — we are the sum of the influence and impact that we have, in our lives, on others. -Neil deGrasse Tyson speaking in tribute to the great Carl Sagan
via Brain Pickings

On a night when I sat with my 9-year-old to watch the new version of the Cosmos TV series, I was reminded just how overwhelmingly vast and dark and inexplicable our universe is. And how awesome it is to be alive and aware of how very little we know.

If we can shine a little light as we journey, light that just might illuminate the path of a fellow traveler, even for a mere moment, we have done something noble, something heroic.

Humans are so new to the universe and so alone as far as we can see. Our significance is not much in relation to the cosmos. But in relation to each other, we are all we have to share meaning and kindness and to make this journey worthwhile.