Star Dust Exchange

Recent deaths have stirred my friends and families emotions. I have been fortunate enough to be at peace with the inevitable, and this was my attempt to shed some light over a dark time.

"Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn't be here if stars hadn't exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren't created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode." 

-Lawrence M.Krauss

"The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way the atoms are put together. The cosmos is also within us. We are made of star stuff, we are a way for the cosmos to know itself" 

-Carl Sagan

When we pass, our bodies decay and return to the earth as the star dust we are made of. In time, our sun will expand and Earth will be enveloped and consumed by it. When our sun has met it's end, it, too, will explode as millions of stars have already. All of Earth, all of humanity, everything we have fought for, loved, cherished, valued, will be once again released into the universe. Forever bound by our common lineage, forever locked as if by fate to create the universe anew. I look forward to creating new galaxies, new life, new consciousness, new struggles, new loves, and everything that star-stuff can create... with you, and with everyone we have ever, and ever will, love.

Author's Note

I'm not sure how to properly quote people, the first two sections are not my own words. They are necessary quotes to establish context for my own writing. How was the flow of my writing? Was I able to capture the immensity of the universe, and of our collective consciousness? I feel that the final line could be somewhat clumsy??? Any resemblance to existing writing is coincidental, please let me know if I unintentionally ripped off another piece.