"Above all if you wish to feel fully human, look at the sky, submit to the moment. For in that infinite moment you will merge with the Cosmos and stand as tall as a god!"

This short story encapsulates all the wonder I felt when looking up at the night sky as a child.

I watched the sunset as the wind grew cold. It seemed like an eternity as the sky slowly became dark. A few clouds hung around the horizon, but the vast majority of the sky was clear and deep blue in colour. Night was dawning and the excitement was growing. For this was the night of the star party!
I ran back inside the hostel. "The sky is clear!"
There was a cheer of relief, as the weather forecast was not favourable. This was our first star party and was much looked forward to.
"Brilliant!"
I sat down at the table and ate the quickest supper in history. Everyone sat down expectantly as they waited for the minibus.
"Here it is! Here it is!"
We all ran to the door and pushed our way into the minibus. It took us up a winding hill track well away from the city. The windows steamed up and many little faces could be seen peering out of the areas wiped clear of condensation. Our noses pressed up against the glass as the minibus took us further up the hill. It eventually stopped next to a large dome shaped building.
"Look! The observatory!"
Everyone dived to look out of the right hand side window. "Wow!"
A little man wearing glasses approached the minibus. "Hello. I am Dr Trent, the director of the observatory. Please follow me."
We all squeezed through the minibus door and ran after Dr Trent. He stood and motioned us to stand in a circle. "Before we go into the observatory, I would like you to look at the night sky with the unaided eye."
It was now very dark and Dr Trent pointed out the Milky Way streaking across the sky. We were all struck dumb with wonder.
"Over there is Orion, the Hunter… can you see his belt?"
We all turned to face Orion.
"Over there, just under Orion, is Sirius. Sirius is the brightest star in the Sky. It is relatively close astronomically speaking, only a few trillion miles away!"
An excited viewer pointed to a very bright star. "So what star is that?"
"Ah! That my friend is not a star. It is a planet, Jupiter to be exact. When we look through the telescope you will see its moons and even its great red spot."
"Look!"
"Where, what?"
"That was a shooting star. A shooting star, or meteorite, is a lump of rock that enters the Earth's atmosphere and burns up. Some think that one such rock caused the extinction of the dinosaurs!"
I noticed a star move across the sky and pointed. "Look."
Dr Trent smiled. "So what do you think that is?"
"I don't know, but it sure is eerie!"
"That is probably a satellite reflecting the sunlight. It could also be a spacecraft, or space station."
Dr Trent pointed to a very hazy looking object. It was difficult to see at first, it could only be seen by averting your vision slightly. This was most annoying as you really wanted to look straight at it. "That is the Andromeda Galaxy. It is millions of light years away and is the furthest object most people can see without a telescope, or at least binoculars."
"Millions of light years. How far is that?"
"A light year is the distance that light travels in a year. As it travels so fast a light year is a very long way away indeed! Trillions of miles!"
We all gasped. Millions of Trillions of miles away! Wow! Now that was amazing.
I seemed to develop a sense of awe coupled with a slight fear. I could almost sense the Earth turning as it hurtled through space- space that is vast beyond comprehension. Suddenly humanity seemed very puny, like moss on a rock. It was exhilarating in the extreme, but I was fearful and wanted the security of the indoor world. I realised why people believed that the Earth was the centre of the Universe, why people like light and live in great cities, and why they fear the night. Standing under the night sky full of stars and vast space can be very humbling and terrifying.
"Come inside, it is time to look through the telescope!"
We all followed Dr Trent into the dome. We were all too awed, humbled or terrified to speak.
"The first object we are going to view is our old friend Jupiter. It is so large that it could contain a thousand Earths. Who wants to be first?"
You would have expected from our previous enthusiasm for there to have been a fight for first place. Not so, we all queued up in a very well mannered line. It was almost like a solemn religious ceremony.
One by one we looked at Jupiter. We saw its great red spot, the size of our planet, and we looked upon its moons. It seemed so serene just hanging there in space. We then looked at Saturn. Its rings still haunt me when I look at them. So wonderfully beautiful, a sight guaranteed to take your breath away.
The next object was M101, a galaxy in the Ursa Major region of space. We all looked at this great spiral galaxy. We were unable to comprehend the fact that all the stars we could see in the sky, all the trillions of miles of our own Galaxy, were again contained in this galaxy. How does one grasp this? I often wonder if there is life in this galaxy looking at our galaxy with the same thought. We get so involved in our busy daily lives that we forget our real place in the Universe. We have pretensions of grandeur, but are totally humbled. We are like bacteria living on a dust particle that think they are important.
I have never forgotten the wonder of that, my first star party. Whenever I look up at the night sky all my problems seem to drift away. Dwarfed by the magnificence and size of the Universe. Does the gas bill really matter when faced with this? Even if I were to become the most important person that has ever lived, I would still only stand as tall as a bacterium. Humanity is so vulnerable, its endeavours appear so futile, but still it likes to dream of its own importance. Next time the world seems to be going against you, wait for night and look up at the sky. There is nothing that the world can do to compete. One person knowing their true place in the Universe has grasped more than a whole society with pretensions of grandeur. Above all if you wish to feel fully human, look at the sky, submit to the moment. For in that infinite moment you will merge with the Cosmos and stand as tall as a god!