The story of creation, written in Stardust
As a blind kid, I was always fascinated by the stars, those small lights in the sky that sighted people like so much and talk about during summer nights. Later, when I studied them as a scientist, I came to love them not because of how they look, but because of their ability to teach us the laws of nature. I wrote the following story to explain, in a simple way, how everything around us — including ourselves, is made out of stardust.
Long before time had names, before Earth had danced with the sky, there were only stars: vast, burning hearts in the silence of the cosmos.
Among them was one, ancient and radiant, burning with quiet longing. She had no name, only light, and a whole lot of hydrogen. She had so much of it that the pressure in her heart became enormous, and almost by accident she forged the elements of life: carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, iron.
She was glorious, but lonely, unable to share her gifts with anyone. She was trying to send messages to other stars but they were so far that the replies came back millions of years later. One day, she made a choice. She wanted to travel the universe. She wanted to meet other stars.
With a brave breath, she let go of her light. She collapsed into herself and exploded in a brilliant supernova. In giving up her previous life, she scattered her essence, her consciousness, across the cosmos, directly into the embrace of time.
Her soul drifted for ages, expanding into the empty universe.
One day, in a small corner of space, she met other ancient stars she had once only seen as tiny lights. They gathered together, and suddenly the universe did not feel so cold anymore. They shared stories from their home galaxies, and this small corner began to feel like a new home. They settled into one cozy, giant cloud and called it a day, or a century, or a billion years, Who knows how stars feel about time?
From this cloud, a new star, warm and golden — was born: our Sun. Around it spun their nine children, formed from the heavier elements of the stellar bodies. And one of them, the most gifted and unconventional , was Earth.
The rest of the story you already know how it goes. But think about this:
Everything on Earth is made from material that was once part of a star’s heart. It travelled distances we cannot even imagine, just to reach this tiny corner of the universe and become our planet and everything on it including us.
The carbon in your skin, the calcium in your bones, the iron in your blood — all were once part of the same story, created because of the high pressure in a stellar heart. Today, you carry that story forward. Not just as someone made of stardust, but as someone whose smile is the echo of a star’s final light.
So when you laugh, when you love, when you dream, remember: You are not here by chance. You are here because a star gave everything so you could shine.
And even if you can’t see the stars like me or you have lost the ability to see them over time remember this: The universe built you from the same elements as its brightest children. You carry the stars always with you.