On Becoming Stars

Remember this from the rock opera, Hair?

Good morning, Starshine, 

The earth says 'hello!' 

You twinkle above us,
We twinkle below...

While the political creatures in Pacific fight for the life of the city, there's a role for the people to play -- and that role is more critical than the role any single politician and activist might perform.

It has to do with becoming a star. At least one of our civic leaders was obsessed with stardom.

So what exactly is a star? It's a massive collection of hydrogen, so big and heavy that internal pressure crushes the hydrogen atoms together until fusion occurs and the star begins to shine. It continues to fuse hydrogen to make heavier and heavier elements. From hydrogen it creates oxygen and carbon, sulfur and aluminum, iron, and ultimately, even uranium, an element so big it cannot sustain itself and decays. the brightest stars are so enormous that they bend the space around them and bend the light that is moving through that space.

Then they blow up. And they seed the universe with the heavier elements that they cooked, and it is from those elements that life arises. 

You and I are stardust. And like the stars that made us possible, we also bend the space through which we move. Our words and deeds encourage and discourage, and the ripples of those actions flow out from us and influence others. We create reality, sometimes on a grand scale and sometimes in little ways. But it all counts. And when the City of Pacific no longer exists, what we do will still matter.

There have been those in the city who wanted to be stars, and thought that eclipsing others would make their light  seem all the brighter. But here's the real truth: A galaxy with only one star is a very dim galaxy indeed. The brightest galaxies are those with the greatest abundance of stars, and those who make the greatest difference are those who help their fellow stars to shine. It's not about you, it's about us– and others. And there is no action so small that it doesn't count.

Here's a poem I saw when I was a child that I have never forgotten. Quite likely many readers have seen it before.  It helps to have a Sunday School upbringing to grasp some of the meaning, but it really transcends religion. The message applies to all time and to all people, and it makes the point that you can never predict the impact of a kind act or a positive contribution. What you do in this community counts.  Here it is:

I asked the Lord, “What shall I do?”
And my love flowed warm and free.
Then He pointed me out a tiny spot
And said, “Tend that for me.”

I quickly replied, “Oh no, not that.
“Why, no one would ever see.
“No matter how well my work was done;
“Not that little place for me.”

The word He spoke, It was not stern,
He answered me tenderly;
“Ah, little one, search that heart of thine.
“Are you working for them or me?
“Nazareth was a little place, and so was Galilee.”

While the fight continues, there's lots of little things to be done.  And everyone can add to the light.