The astronomer, Carl Sagan, wrote those words after viewing an image taken of the Earth from the Voyager spacecraft. He wrote an entire book around that image called “The Pale Blue Dot.”
Taken literally, you would be excused for thinking that you don’t matter. You are, in fact, just one amongst billions of beings on this planet - a speck of dust.
But does that mean you do not matter?
Well, as Eleanor Roosevelt might have said,” hell no.”
Let me prove it to you.
Refusing to stand up.
Rosa Parks is a legend, and rightfully so.
Her refusal to give up her seat on a city bus in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, was courageous. But what about those women who came before her? Do you know their names?
Claudette Colvin, Mary Louise Smith, Aurelia Browder, and Susie McDonald are four of those names - and there were many others.
Those four women each refused, like Parks, to stand up and give their seats to white people. They remained seated.
The four women became plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the federal court case that actually ended bus segregation in 1956. But the courage of the four women was not limited to that court case.
They proved that resistance by ordinary citizens was possible.
They proved that they were not helpless “specks of dust.”
They possessed agency, unfathomable courage, and integrity.
Courage is a decision made privately.
Claudette Colvin was 15 years old when she dared to sit down. She later became pregnant out of wedlock, and the NAACP deemed that she was too vulnerable to attack to become the spearhead for the civil rights movement.
But think about how extraordinary Claudette Colvin was.
Colvin's story reveals something crucial about human beings.
Courage isn't about being photographed or celebrated. It’s about those private moments when you decide your integrity and dignity matter more than your comfort.
No cameras or journalists were hovering over her on the bus that day. She was alone—a seemingly innocuous, impotent speck of dust.
I can imagine Harriet Tubman holding her right hand and Sojourner Truth her left, as she made the conscious decision not to be impotent and to face likely imprisonment.
Colvin was a champion for justice, one whose name has largely been forgotten.
For me, Claudette Colvin inspires me not to wait until someone chooses me to make a difference.
I choose myself.
Creating the courage to sit down: Five decisive actions you can take now.
1. Stop avoiding one uncomfortable conversation.
Have the difficult conversation you've been avoiding for weeks, months, or even years. You know, the one with your boss about your unreasonable workload. The one with your partner about intimacy, or with a friend about boundaries.
Most people's biggest problems stem from conversations they won't have.
Pick one and schedule it this week.
2. Monetize your expertise - stop giving it away.
You are not helpless. You have the skills to help you overcome what Steven Pressfield calls “Resistance” and market yourself. List three skills you've developed over the years that people regularly ask you about.
Choose one and create a way to get paid for it within 30 days - consulting, teaching, freelancing, or productizing your knowledge. Your expertise is already valuable; you just need to price it. Give yourself a firm deadline. You don’t have to make a thousand dollars or even a hundred - just get paid.
FYI - the first time I got paid for my writing on Medium, I almost fainted - it was HUGE for me. I got paid $20 that day, and it was as if I received a million bucks.
3. Exterminate ‘energy vampires.’
Identify the one person, habit, or commitment that consistently drains your energy without giving anything back. We all have them. I have neighbors who only want to talk about themselves and never ask anything about my life. I avoid them altogether.
Set a firm boundary around one of these energy black holes or eradicate it. Most people tolerate energy drains for years instead of making one decisive move.
4. The "Daily Creation Practice"
I invite you to check out the “Before I Die Project’ TED Talk given by the artist Candy Chang - it will blow your socks off.
Chang transformed an abandoned building by inviting strangers to complete 'Before I die, I want to _____' on a public wall converted into a massive blackboard.
The response was overwhelming, and crime in the area dropped. Art gave people agency.
Here is what the wall looked like two days after launching the project.
Art is a superpower, so use it.
Commit to creating something - anything - for 15 minutes every day for 30 days. Keep track on a calendar. Write, draw, code, record, build, it doesn’t matter.
And then share it with at least one person (this does matter).
The act of daily creation builds confidence and strengthens or reveals suppressed talents. Creating art and sharing it is the fastest way to prove to yourself that you matter.
5. The "Fear Inventory."
I’ve shared previously that I belong to a remarkable international group called The ManKind Project (MKP). The mission of MKP is to encourage and cultivate kindness in men throughout the world. We meet in small groups frequently to share our vulnerabilities and to support each other.
A common way to begin a meeting would be for each man present to share with the group one fear that is preventing him from living the life he dreams of living.
It is liberating beyond my ability to express, to shine a light on your fears and share them with others. Shame and guilt wither under the light of courage.
Write down your biggest fear.
Then take the smallest possible step towards conquering that fear.
If you're terrified of public speaking, admit it on a social media post. I do this on LinkedIn and BlueSky from time to time.
If you're afraid of rejection, ask for what you want anyway.
Decisive action dissolves fear like sugar in water.
The price you pay for “standing up” and relinquishing your power.
Imagine how history might have been rewritten had Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin, Mary Louise Smith, Aurelia Browder, and Susie McDonald acquiesced to the entitled white people on the bus and stood up, relinquishing their seats?
It’s repulsive even to consider, isn’t it?
When you abdicate your power and your agency, you create a slightly darker world. A less compassionate world.
When those women chose to sit down, they stood up for all of us.
Now it's your turn to find your seat—and refuse to give it up.
If you know of someone who believes they do not matter, please share this edition of The Courageous Human.