Distances

The science teacher had his students right where he wanted them: imagining.

"How far is far? How vast is vast?  Imagine a tiny bucket, and an ocean's volume. Our limited mechanical brains cannot easily embrace the mysterious structural dimensions of an illusively understood, ever-expanding Universe."

"Generate a beam of light. Now quick, jump on top and ride it, 186,282 miles per second, for every minute, hour, day, week, month, of an entire year. You've now travelled 5.88 TRILLION miles. In other words, only ONE light-year."

The teacher passionately continued, "The human mind cannot easily grasp or conceptualize supreme distances of space and time. Existence is literally more vast than our capacity for its comprehension. This fact alone invites an enlightened perspective, a keener appreciation of the maybe arbitrary and lucky phenomenon of our being."

The teacher concludes his talk, "And, these dwarfing wonders, please consider, evoke and illuminate a reverent respect for the unfathomable  mystery, majesty, and splendor of all Creation. It's the basis for our humility: we as mere specks and these vast distances beyond us."