Last
year, I had a life-changing experience at 90 years old. I went
to space, after decades of playing an iconic science-fiction
character who was exploring the universe. I thought I would
experience a deep connection with the immensity around us, a
deep call for endless exploration.
I was absolutely
wrong. The strongest feeling, that dominated everything else
by far, was
the deepest grief that I had ever
experienced.
I understood, in the clearest possible
way, that
we were living on a tiny oasis of life,
surrounded by an immensity of death. I didn’t see infinite
possibilities of worlds to explore, of adventures to have, or
living creatures to connect with. I saw the deepest darkness I
could have ever imagined,
contrasting so starkly with the
welcoming warmth of our nurturing home planet.
This
was an immensely powerful awakening for me. It filled me with
sadness. I realized that we had spent decades, if not
centuries, being obsessed with looking away, with looking
outside. I did my share in popularizing the idea that space
was the final frontier. But I had to get to space to
understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. And that
we have been ravaging it, relentlessly, making it
uninhabitable.
Sign now: Protect our
one and only home!