When astronaut Rusty Schweickart said “It was like seeing a baby about to be born” I feel that he

meant it was like seeing a miraculous miracle appearing for what feels like the first time. I have
not had the luxury of becoming a parent, but the majority of my friends have, and they have
always said to me that the feeling of having a child is something so unreal, and something that
you cant begin to imagine until it happens to you. My very best friend just recently had her third
child and she has repeatedly told me that you never know the true meaning of love until you have
a child. When Rusty said this, this is exactly what my mind began to think about. A feeling, a
love so strong that it can not be understood until it happens to you.
One thing that really stood out to me from this chapter was when it was said that “you realize in
one glance that what your seeing is what was the whole history of a man for years – the cradle of
civilization (Senge, The Fifth Discipline).” This really stood out to me because its such a
powerful statement. You really will never understand how big the world is until you get out and
start to explore everything that is offered. We are so small standing on this Earth, and you can
look in one direction and barely see any of what the Earth consist of. Being in space though even
though you are still so small you get that opportunity to see the Earth as a whole. You can see
everything in one glance. Looking down upon a place where you were born, raised, grew up,
learned, played, and even explored. I can begin to imagine why it took Rusty five years to be
able to figure the words to describe his experience in space. To be one of the select few who are
given an opportunity so great as being able to look down upon the Earth where you once lived
and spent all of your days to orbiting around it watching it float by as if it were a yo-yo being
bounced along on its string.
Another interesting point that Rusty brought up is the fact that up there you see the Earth as a
whole. No boundaries showing the start and end of one country and city to the next. I think this
was one of the most important things that he could bring to any listener or readers attention. It
was mentioned that we fight over these boundaries, and natural materials, killing many lives in
the process, but when your up there none of that matters because everything is one together,
being separated by nothing but water. In todays world we see so much hate between different
religions, cultures, race, sex, and just about anything else you can think of. But when you get into
space you cant tell the difference between any of these things because everything is one.
So, when I think about what he meant by “It was like seeing a baby about to be born” I think
about how he sees a new beginning. Opening our eyes to things we never thought imaginable
and being able to have a different look on the world and how we once used to look at it. Having
this experience must be so rewarding and eye opening. Releasing our minds to be free of any
negativity and seeing everything as whole.