If you want to understand something, you have to look at its edge. It’s the boundaries of things that define them. The borders of a country allow us to recognize its shape on a map. The contours of a loved one’s face are what trigger our hearts to skip a beat.
There is a simple boundary to the human experience, the radius of the planet we call home. And every time we break it, we redefine what it means to be us.
I witnessed this today, as I watched four astronauts leave this planet on a pillar of fire. As they pushed out the edge of what it means to be human, I got a tiny bit closer to understanding.