On April 24th, 1990 NASA launched the Hubble Telescope. Over its 20 year history of space exploration, this technological marvel has clearly earned the distinction of one of the greatest scientific and human accomplishments of all time. Its pictures from the deepest reaches of space, its photographs charting distances nearly beyond our comprehension, are as stunning as any images known to humankind.

Yet for all the nearly unfathomable miles into space, the incalculable pilgrimage back in time, Hubble has been more of a microscope than a telescope. Looking out for us has allowed us to look in as well.

I still believe that the alluring depth and darkness of space reminds you and I of the vastness within ourselves. The scattered pinpoints of starlight overhead on a clear evening evoke our tiny, fragile foothold within that immensity. Surveying the nighttime skies is an exercise of Human recognition and reflection. Deep space and inner space are one and the same.

Photo Courtesy of NASA

That the human body is an amalgam of exploding star remnants and swirling cosmic dust (over eons of time), seems to escape us in our daily lives and travels. Whether our beginnings were sparked by Divinity or gravity, when we look to the heavens, we do in fact look homeward. We thrive when we remember who we are!

For that reason I find it fitting that today is also the anniversary of the first video ever posted on YouTube. It’s 5th birthday is also a celebration of those things that make us all human, that make us all one family yet stunningly unique at the same time.

As a person, a people and a planet we are indistinguishable at a certain level. Peering into our future with a telescope or a video camera, we might be better served to remember it.

Photo Courtesy of NASA

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