Billions and Billions of Stars...

            Teddy Roosevelt, our 26^th president, was said to have sought escape from the pressures of the position by getting out into the wilderness. One crystal clear, starry night, as the story goes, he chose to unroll his sleeping bag out in the open.  Far from civilization, far from any sort of industrial light pollution, the vast expanse of the heavens lay before him, stretching from horizon to horizon. After some time, and with a sigh, TR rolled over and said, “At last I feel small enough to go to sleep.” And he did.

            The other day I read about discoveries concerning the universe. Einstein originally believed that the universe was static – it was his biggest mistake, he later admitted. Physicists now tell us that the universe is expanding, and, what is even more remarkable, at ever increasing speeds. We tend to think of objects slowing down after they are launched – think, for example, of how a thrown baseball slows and eventually comes to a halt. But the universe is getting bigger faster and faster. So much so that if we lived long enough the night sky would be empty – the stars – those “billions and billions of stars”, as Carl Sagan famously put it -- would have sped away faster than the speed of light.

            Roosevelt found the humility that came with being reminded of his right size comforting.  In a time when he was the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, when so many depended on him, but also reminded him on a daily basis of his vast importance, being confronted with evidence of his comparative insignificance in the grand scheme of things grounded him and gave him peace.

            Perhaps a walk on a clear winter’s evening might do us all some good, as well.

     When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

       the moon and the stars that you have established;

     what are human beings that you are mindful of them,

       mortals that you care for them?  -- Psalm 8