The sight of the world from above is a beautiful one. It fills the viewer with awe and plants the idea in their head that not everything has gone wrong. So to be up here in space, suited up, attached to the station by just tether, hearing nothing but the sound of my own breath, combined with the constant barrage of sunlight, I for one can say that it is truly a sight to behold. To see Earth, to see it from so far away, it gives you the sense that the world isn’t as big as you once thought. But that’s obvious right? When one looks at something from a distance it looks smaller than it actually is. But this...this is different. When you see the world so small it isn’t just the planet itself thats shrunk. It’s the people on, friends, acquaintances, strangers, enemies they’re all so small. The human race, the seven billion something people living on this planet, the progress they’ve made, the steps they’ve taken back, the accomplishments, the failures, the problems, the solutions, the love, the hate, the entire range of human emotions, life and death. All of it seems so meaningless, so far away when you’re up there looking down, and its not just physical it’s mental. Everything that makes the planet seem like such a miserable place vanishes within an instant when you see the true beauty of the world. You begin to feel like your mind has finally been cleared, your vision no longer clouded, it’s like you can finally see everything...and you never want the feeling to end. You want to stay there forever but you know you can’t, you have to go back at some point. Back to the war, the famine, the disease, the unfortunate, the cruelty, the grueling misery. Back to the kind, the loving, the caring, your acquaintances, your friends...your family. And that’s when it hits you. The true reason looking down at the planet, with everything so small, petty, and so far away. The reason it makes you happy isn’t because all the bad parts of life are so distant. It’s because you can see all the good parts from above. You can see the true beauty of the planet Earth. You can see how, although there are problems they’re small compared to the rest of the universe, they can be taken control of. You can look down and know that everything, everyone that you love, they’re down there and even though you’re so high above them, they still love you. Thats what makes the human race so great, thats what makes life worth living. Even through all of our struggles, every bad day, every regrettable action, every time we’ve felt sad or angry, we’ve been able to keep meaningful connections with people who are willing to help us...to love us. You get homesick, you actually want to go back and at the same time you know that you’d come back again to look down on the world because now you finally have something to love on both ends. So, you continue through life as you normally do, showing those closest to you that you love them, building relationships, making new friends and losing the old. Except now you know truth, you no longer need to escape somewhere, to get away from it all because you know that the burden of life is worth it. Of course every now and then you’d like to go back up, to suit up, attach yourself to the station, hear nothing but your own breath and get barraged by the constant light of the sun. Who knows maybe you will, but when and if you do, you’ll look down on the world and smile.