Back in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Apollo missions took people to the moon for the first and only time. During these missions the astronauts captured some amazing photos. One of these is a surprisingly simple picture that can give an amazing perspective on the earth and the people on it. The picture in question was taken by Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins in 1969 and is of the Apollo 11 capsule with the moon and earth in the background. All but one human, living or dead, is in this photo. Let that sink in for a moment. In just this one picture everything that humans have built or destroyed or touched is present. Think about that the next time someone says that humans are significant in the universe. Should the same photo be taken today, they only change in what is there would be a handful of satellites and the people born after this photo was taken. Nothing else would change, as far as the subject of the photo goes. This photo gives the ultimate perspective of how small and insignificant we really are.

The idea that humans are insignificant in the grand scheme of things is hard to see in most other photos. With the exception of the two men in the capsule, there is no way of knowing who is doing what, and where they are on Earth. Nothing but clouds and the continents can be seen from this distance. Even further, once the fact that the earth and moon are, relatively speaking, extremely close to each other, the earth itself becomes nearly insignificant. 

A similar argument is made today in the sense that most people don’t blame certain countries and cultures for what was done hundreds of years ago, or in some cases only a couple years ago. Despite the bad things that people have done, they don’t matter anymore. It’s as though nothing had ever happened. Suddenly everything that a person had done is forgotten in the grand scheme of things. No one blames the soldiers during the Revolutionary War or even the Civil War, instead the only people still remembered and thus blamed are the leaders of the two conflicts. It’s as though everyone that fought and died doesn’t matter anymore, in this example.  

In the photo, only the active accomplishment of three men can be seen. The man taking the photo and the two about to land on another world. Three people in a world of seven and a half billion is nearly as insignificant as it gets. A large part of the world probably didn’t even realize that there were about to be people stepping on the moon. Most people were probably just going about another day in their lives. The only significant thing happening, in their eyes, was what they were doing at that very moment. The odd part of everyone thinking that what they are doing is important is that suddenly, what they are doing becomes unimportant and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. 

With how little is actually going on in this photo, much of its meaning must be inferred of meditated on. While not explicitly shown in the photo, one can infer that this photo shows something scary. Scary because everything humans have ever done has will have happened in this image. All the good, all the bad, every insignificant person right along with the most significant people in history all shared a moment in this photo. It’s the scary thought that everything people had done is insignificant in the grand scheme of things and yet, only by everyone doing what they had done, did humans end up capturing this photo. It could have happened one hundred years later, or even earlier, then it did, had certain people thought that they were truly insignificant to the world.

 Now that we have exhausted the idea of how insignificant we are, let’s talk about smother inference to be thought about: what has been accomplished in the short time we’ve inhabited this planet. Humans as a species have moved from living in caves to living in skyscrapers thousands of feet tall. They have gone from looking at birds and imagining what it looks like up there, to flying higher than any bird could ever imagine. Humans have done amazing things, and yet, from this one perspective of the photo, none of it matters. But, this also includes all the death and destruction caused by humans over the few thousand years they have been on earth. It becomes a double edge sword with the good and bad things done on this earth. And yet, by remembering all the bad things people have done, we can a appreciate all the good things people have done and how significant people have truly become.

 The ways the photo can be interpreted begin to contradict itself in this way. One could argue that all the good things that humanity has done are for no good reason. However, the only way that this photo was taken was by humans doing amazing things. We wouldn’t have this perspective of ourselves and the earth had we believed that everything we did had no real reason. But instead, the human species wanted to leave a legacy and be remembered. It gives a real reason to live.  People don’t remember Abe Lincoln for what he did as a child or even for what he did before he became president, they remember him for the things he did that left a lasting impression and can still be seen today. It doesn’t even need to be people as famous as Abe Lincoln. It can be a mother or father teaching an important lesson to a child, or just a stranger saying good morning. Suddenly everything could have a huge significance even if it is only for one person.

Similarly, the importance of humans can be seen, even today, in just this one photo. We have been to other worlds and yet, one hundred years ago, we didn’t have computers, widespread electricity, and had only just invented planes and automobiles. This gives just the opposite image to that previously mentioned, humans are extremely important and significant even if we are just a tiny part of our universe. Likewise, despite only actively seeing three men accomplish something, hundreds of men’s and women’s achievements can be seen here. It took hundreds if not thousands of people working together to finally get this one image. Everyone, from the man behind the camera, to the person who first wanted to go to the stars, becomes important. 

Touching back on what is physically happening in the photo, perhaps one may see eye to eye with the interpretation above. Others may simply see the photo as one singular accomplishment that deserves only as much respect as others. Either way, the fact that we have been to another rock in the universe can truly get the imagination running. 