How Many People Have Lived?

From today, going back to the time when the first human beings existed, how many people have already lived on Earth?

“According to the United Nations, world population reached 7 Billion on October 31, 2011…According to the most recent estimates, the human population of the world is expected to reach 8 billion people in the spring of 2024.” (http://www.worldometers.info). This is nine years from now.

How many people are born each day and how many pass away?  From prehistory/ancient history up to the present we call The Social Age.I wonder about each life, each mind, each heart that roamed around this home we call Earth. The richest, the greatest of minds, the most inspiring souls we have ever known.

I see how the fleeting glance of each moment pass by. And altogether creating the most meaningful and beautiful experience we call life.

Human life is very short compared to other creations or organisms.“Worldwide, the average life expectancy at birth was 71.0 years (68.5 years for males and 73.5 years for females) over the period 2010–2013 according to United Nations World Population Prospects 2012 Revision, or 70.7 years (68.2 years for males and 73.2 years for females) for 2009 according to The World Factbook.

Wishing each person living will be awakened to this fact and hopefully drives him to progress, to be better, but also to be kinder, be more human, and to seize each waking moment to be happy and loving to the people around him. Maybe then who needs violence? Who needs war?

 

Blue Skies

The other day. after picking up my son from  his summer camp, I brought the kids to McDonald’s. My son wanted to have the minion toys they give away when you buy the kids’ meal.

  

The afternoon sky was so bright, blue, and beautiful. Although it was sunny, the breeze was very cool.

I look around and I see beauty : )

Beauty From Above

I dream to travel the world. I am amazed by different cultures, different places, and how people can be different from each other. When I was younger, geography and history were my least favorites. They bored me a little. But now that I have come of age, I definitely appreciate maps, countries, travel, and culture. As of now, I neither have the time nor the means to see the world. So what I do is watch travel shows, refer to books or the website to see different places. I enjoy the shows House Hunters International, Vikings, The Tudors, anything that shows history, geography, culture.

To Travel is really awesome. If you have the time and money, it is such an experience to actually  be in different places, enjoying beautiful landscapes, exploring local food, feeling the place’s breeze, hearing fascinating languages being spoken, walking on the street pavements, and having your photograph with a beautiful scenery in the background. For now, I am happy and contented to travel the world using my sense of sight and my wild imagination! This is seeing life’s beauty up close.

Another perspective that truly astonish me is not just to witness the beauty of life in front of me. I often wonder how it also feels like to appreciate the beauty from above. I am very afraid of heights. For sure, I will never fly up in space or be an astronaut even in my imagination. This is the reason why I follow NASA’s official instagram account. I enjoy their photos of earth, outer space, Universe, and all those celestial objects. They let me have an experience of seeing the beauty of life from above. It is astounding to see wonders and beauty in space. It can be scary too because of the other unknown things out there. I will not be talking about force, gravity, or energy. I know little of these things. But in general, it is just so amazing. There are so many things we do not know yet. As human beings we strive and keep on learning, knowing, and discovering.

I believe the astronomers and astronauts are blessed to have a first hand knowledge and experience of knowing/seeing the beauty of/from space. I often wonder how this experience has changed their views or if it has affected them at all?  So as I was engaging in a conversation in Instagram, I came across an amateur astronaut. I seized the opportunity to ask my inquiries (I will update this article as soon as I get his response). I am excited to know his point of view. He said, “as an amateur astronomer, and one who works with both amateur and professional astronomers for the most part they share a humble understanding of their place in the Universe and are aghast and excited to know what’s out there.”

Down here, from this perspective, everything seems so big. Problems are big. Our country is big. It is a big wide world! But when I just imagine, from up there, we are tiny specs of dust. Being alive is truly amazing. Being here on earth for just a few years is an incredible gift. Compared to billions of years or light years in space. With this in mind, fighting/ war does not make sense.  No sense hurting people in any way. There is no sense to be unhappy. We are all brothers and sisters, we are all human beings. Whether we come from different places, we live differently, we look different, we are all the same. I hope I am making sense. Or am I just too drunk from awe?