Things were here before you and will be here after you're gone. The geographic features, especially, give you a sense of your own place in the world and in time.
“It's no fun feeling your thoughts are being controlled by an electrode, and someone else is holding the clicker.”
“Mr. Gonzales' failure to respond to questions legitimately posed to him by the Senate raises grave doubts in my mind as to his fitness to serve the people of the United States as their Attorney General.”