Human (In)significance

This was an expanded thought about having an existential crisis and why we’ve thought of it.

Have you ever had an existential crisis? That feeling that our lives just felt so tiny and minuscule. Sometimes even meaningless when observing how big and wide the world is. Or even when looking up at the stars imagining how small we are, how compared to all the things in the universe we are merely just a speck of dust. Existing for a little while and then fading away just like that.

But then I started to think further. Why have we rarely thought about the opposite notion? Have you ever thought about how a single cell has such significance in our body? With a role for each and every one of them. Have you ever thought about how just being there, you could have a significant impact to someone else? When you see your crush walking towards you down that hallway, how it creates a storm of chemical reactions and emotions inside of you. How a single hello could make someone else’s day.

I guess we tend to forget sometimes about how much effect we can have on the world. How in the blinding truth about the insignificance of our ephemeral human lives, we forget about our own significance we can bring. How often we fail to recognize our footsteps and legacy that we leave in this world every single day.

I found out that this might help explain a part of why some people do what they do; why we do what we do. Maybe it’s because we tend to forget the effects of every little thing that we do. Maybe we often forget to appreciate the little things that people do for us as well.

Thus, how this train of thought reminded me.

Be gentler with the effects that we have in this world. Think about this the next time you walk out that door, or even when connecting on your phone. Think about this the next time you speak or even think about anyone. Also, it reminded me to thank you for reading this, probably the one out of five people who read my thoughts poured over a few paragraphs. You are significant to me. Maybe from this we can remember to use the little significance that we have to be significant in having a positive impact towards someone else and even the world. Don’t be afraid of being insignificant, but be afraid that the little significance that we have would affect things around us negatively.

Our lives are significant and insignificant at the same time. There’s something beautiful and poetic in that; and I wouldn’t have it any other way.