Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest physicists ever, is reported to have said, “…that we live on a minor planet of a very average star located within the outer limits of one of a hundred thousand million galaxies.”  It calls for all of us to maintain perspective of where we at this moment of time in human history. 

Finding an answer to: Is there life on Mars?  Setting up base on the moon and training ourselves to live in outer space may interest only a tiny fraction of the population at a time when the vast majority of people are struggling to survive, concerned with food, clothing, shelter and work.  To keep perspective concerns one’s outlook in life, one’s point of view, a worldview, an attitude and state of mental make-up.

Life is full of hills and valleys, some of which would want us to quit along the way.  It is during these times that our focus needs to be on the finish and not on the difficulties along the way.  Each individual human being is unique and comes to the world only once and that too for a very short time.  While it is true that billions of peoples have lived on this planet, never before has the world been seen or understood with all its diversified people in one perspective as profoundly as today.

And yet we are dithering on the plank of indecision, knowing full well that time is running out.  Important choices must be made now, because, we are at the threshold of a new era.  The newness is self-evident, people everywhere know it, as do governments, though not all admit to it.

When shall we cast out the beast of violence and discord; when shall we rise above the follies brought about by wars; when shall we as true lovers of humankind build our planet anew. Conditions wrought by 20th century technologies have annihilated distances in terms of communication and travel and yet the chasm between the head and heart remains un-bridged.

 Understanding still remains incomplete and imperfect, and respect sometimes non-existent.  We need a holistic perspective of the powerful forces now operating in the world—forces that inspired humanity in its long history to establish civilisations and manifest the finest that is latent in every human mind and heart.

 We humans have much more to agree on than to disagree about.  It is when we stop learning that we create barriers that keeps us from understanding each other and perhaps finding common ground to work together.  “If unity be gained, all other problems will disappear of themselves.”