About: How I came to believe in all of you (Humanity)

Why: I learned that everyone is different, I learned that I am myself, and I do not base myself on other people’s expectations.

About 2 or 3 years ago, I realized I was who I was. I am Human. I am not a fish, or a bear, or a mindless cattle beast. I am a human being. I am the culmination of millions of years of hardships and death, the proud legacy of those who we have forgotten. I am humanity, the culmination of all of those who came before me. My atoms were forged in the fires of a birth of a goddamn star. My world was born from the hostile abyss of blackness that sits above us every night. My species grew up from single celled amoebas. Into this. The masters of our planet. The dukes of our destinies. Humanity.

Humanity is a beautiful thing, for all of its flaws and eyesores. For all we know, as in scientifically know, we are alone in the universe. There is no adequate evidence to suggest we are sharing the stars with aliens. There is no real proof that there are others out there. We are alone right now. That is all we can say with certainty. Isn’t that a scary thought? We are entirely alone here, no-one else is out there, in that vast ocean of stars. There is nobody. And we are on our own right now. Humanity. We are the most advanced, complex thing the universe has made at the moment. Living organisms, sentient beings capable of asking questions, and seeking answers.

We tend to forget this. We tend to forget we are special like this. We are often too busy caught up in petty problems, petty societal problems that we came up with so we could simply keep having problems to overcome, to consider what we are, and were we came from. We do not consider ourselves to be a miracle of the universe. But we are. 90% of all life that ever was is now dead. Gone. Forever, never to be seen again. At any point in history, it could have happened to us. But it didn’t. We kept going, kept going to to point we realized how special we were, and then promptly forgot collectively as a species that we are made of star stuff, and have made it to the moon and back, and have split that atom, and created the telephone, and we are all part of these discoveries simply because humans found them.

As a child, I loved reading and listening, it was easier than talking for me. I liked listening to the great scientists, to Einsteins theory’s about life and the universe and Neil Degrass Tyson, a very funny Astrophysicist. I also liked reading about Carl Sagan, a man who offered me the view I hold to this day. That humans are amazing. That we are unique and beautiful. We are all part of a revolutionary cycle of something called life. I took all of these great mens views to heart, in a way that many haven’t, because they felt right, and just and true.

Many people would do well to realize we are all special. All of us. No-one is more special than another. We are all 65% oxygen, 16% carbon, and 10% hydrogen. The same stuff that most of the universe is made up of. You are all part of a galactic system of atoms, interacting with each other. We were put on this Earth by chance. Thats just scientific fact. I personally like science because it validates what i believe. That life is precious, and has only happened once so far. Its up to us to make something of it. Its up to you to do something with it. Because you must. There is otherwise there is no point to life. There literally isn’t, life only exists by cosmic accident. And because we appeared here by accident, we have no purpose beyond the once we give ourselves. As Carl Sagan, once said, Extinction is the rule, Survival is the Exception. And because it is the exception, there is no plan for it, just experimentation and probing to see how far it goes.

I believe we should believe in ourselves and in each other. We should believe in our own truths You have to hold on to your truth. No a truth placed there by anyone. Not a truth that you read about online or saw on TV. A truth you believe because you know it should be the truth. It may not necessarily be true, but it should be, because it is worth believing in. I believe in good will always cast down evil, I believe that love, true love, never dies, but most of all, I believe in all of you. People, especially these days, find it hard to take pride in themselves, because they believe if they can do something, anyone else can. Well that’s not true. I can’t run a marathon, I can’t get straight E’s in school. But I know some of you can. I believe you can, because I want it to be true. I need these things to be true for life to be considered living. Because without these things, life seems rather pointless. Whats the point of life if you will just die at the end. What is the point when you know one day, someone, somewhere in the future, will have a final, passing though about you, and then you will be forgotten forever, lost to time.

You know, the theme of these speech are a life less ordinary, but for me, a life is in itself less ordinary. We are not normal, the fact we exist is not normal, the norm means we all die before we discovered. No other living creatures have discovered and perfected the wheel to help carry their burdens. Nothing besides humanity has escaped earths orbit under its own terms. To me, the fact we are here is enough for me to consider you all special. You are here because life evolved on earth in such a way it led to us. You are here by accident and luck, in other words.

That is why, I believe in all of you. Because you are here. Because if I do not, what is the point to existing on this planet. There is none, no god given reason for you to find, just the one you give yourself. And, because of this, I chose to think that you are all wonderful, exciting individuals of a godddamn miracle of the universe. So prove me right, find a reason for yourself and live by it, because I believe in all of you.