A friend of mine recently sent me a link to a story about this photograph. The photograph itself is beyond amazing. Truly. But I'm not sure: Is it the image or the project that leaves me in wonder?
The image itself just further confirms to me the very incredible, unfathomable insignificance of our existence. Our invisible lives on this invisible speck in this infinite universe. Climate change? Carbon footprints? Meaningless in the vastness of it all.
All that's not to say we shouldn't enjoy a good movie or a vacation with the family. Just the opposite. We should enjoy this life, those we love, and take exceptional care of this little island of green and blue because, as the saying goes, "it ain't much but it's all we got."
The project, though, is the other thing that takes my mind a bit to comprehend. Whether this man's work will be significant to me, you, or the world at large in another 5, 10 or hundred years is really beside the point. It will always be important to him. He will always have the immeasurable pleasure of knowing he conceived of an idea, watched it grow to humongous proportion, and then had the wherewithal to mentally and physically see it through. That is a slice of life most of us may never really be able to say we've tasted. Undertaking a project requiring tremendous sacrifice, tremendous vision, at an incredible cost of time and resources-- and all completed just to scratch that itch, to dig that treasure, and to share the spoils with others.
I'm sure that, at any given period in history, there are always a handful of people around the world at work on personal endeavors of similar magnitude. I just happened to have this one shoved under my nose. In the least, a story like that of Nick Risinger and skysurvey should help us all find the motivation to finally clean out the garage and organize all that crap.
No comments:
Post a Comment