If The Stars Only Appeared Once Every Thousand Years

While staring up into the night sky, you might be struck by the magnificence and great number of the stars that adorn the heavens. I won't go all Louie Giglio on you and spout facts of how gigantic our universe is, I won't even talk about specific stars. I simply want to ask what it would be like if stars only came out every thousand years. To quote Ralph Emerson, a 19th century poet and lecturer:

"If the stars would appear one night in  a thousand years; how would man believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their smile."

In a short story by Maurice T. Brackbill titled Once In A Thousand Years, the idea is eloquently expanded upon, trying to guess how people would react if the stars only came once every thousand years. Here is a brief summary of the story (by the way, it is one of my all time favorite short stories, right up with The Land Of The Lost Socks and Tales of Napoleon the Stub): Stories of the stars are passed down from generation to generation. When the calculated time approaches, the people are separated into two groups: The Pro-Stellarists, who believed that the stars coming was a matter of historical and scientific fact, and the Anti-Stellarists who believe that the stars are simply a myth. There would be much debate about who was correct, although the majority of the population agreed with the "Pro's". In preparation for the day when the stars come out people travel to places where it is expected to have no clouds. The government would outlaw lights except with permission, so as not to disturb the sight of the stars. Hospitals wheel the sick onto balconies, prisoners in solitary confinement are allowed a few minutes under guard in the courtyard, those on death row that are sentenced to die a few days before the stars come out are given a stay of sentence, all so that the stars can be seen in all their glory.
And when the star arrive, the spectacle is excitedly witnessed by all. But, when the last star disappears from the night sky, it is wished that they could see it just one more night, and how amazing it would be if they came out every night. Alas, it is not so, and it will be another thousand years before the stars are seen again.

 Yet, the stars do come out every night. We are privileged to partake in them at our leisure. And yet do we? They have become so commonplace we hardly give them a second thought. You have to wonder. If the stars did only come out once every thousand years, (assuming we were lucky enough to live at the point when they came out) as a whole would we humans appreciate them more on that once occasion than we do now, when they come out every single night? Or have we so taken them for granted that we do not recognize their wonder?