To bacteria, insects, and small animals alike we are giants that rule this green Earth. We can construct irrigation systems to make water stretch over large areas of land to help feed our plants that then nourish our nations. We can weave paths of electricity to brighten our walkways, buildings, and homes alike making the light that the daytime promises happen at anytime. We can even have control over where nuclear bombs can be sent to set destruction on other lands with a few coordinates and a push of a button. Humans have so much power; it’s frightening to think about. However it’s even more frightening to think about how much significance we actually carry. We as a race, as a species, even as a planet in its entirety are extremely light against that of the weight of the universe.
What gives that impression? How can we measure the mighty powers of the human race? Well, when was the last time you stared up into the nightsky? Do you remember all those glittering dots above you? Those heavenly figures that shine so intriguingly are suns of other planets that we’ll never see because of our distance from them. We don't have the ability through our technology that we wield today to view them and we will never be able to go out to explore and conquer them like we've done for centuries with entire cultures here. Billions and trillions of stars that burn away in our endless universe hold so many secrets that will never be encoded to us as a population. The best part: if you were to stand on one of those stars you wouldn’t even be able to see our Earth. We are so meaningless in the grand scale of it all. However some people will never realize and they will let their problems cloud around them and soon they will float along with them.
Why is this topic so important to bring up? Why is it so essential to know that on this planet, and in your life, you feel so large when in retrospect you are so small? It’s not to beat up on you, but to make you humble. The best feature someone could have, arguably, is just that. You need to know that you are not the most amazing thing that’s ever happened in our lifetime. Realizing that you will never stop learning is something that people forget often. Every day, whether you know it or not, is a new lesson learned.
That’s not to say that you are not apart of someone else’s lesson however. Despite in actuality you meaning nothing comparatively to the universe you still have worth on this planet, to these people, and most importantly to yourself. You can grow every day but alongside of others who also continuously grow with you. Whether or not you choose to help those people is up to you, and that’s where being humble comes in to help. Whether or not you choose to stop and be apart of the solution, helping the people around you not because you are “the best” or because you feel that you have to is something not everyone can accomplish. At least not right away. You help others grow because you want to. I watch every day as people try to step over others' authority and leadership because they think they can do it better. They believe they are, for lack of a better term, “the best." No one has more experience than they do. No one can do it better than them.
And they’re wrong.
Chances are there is someone more qualified to do their job and that’s why those people are appointed to it. Not them and, most of the time, not you. You need to take a step back and realize your role whether it be in school, in your home, or in a community. How can you better something? How can you be more humble and help the people that need it most in a way that’s not crippling to them and the people around you? There are multiple ways to doing something, there are varying perspectives to look at something, there are different ideologies to take account for.
How can you better a community? How can you make yourself significant?
Well you can start by being humble. You can start by taking half an hour out of your night and laying in the grass; staring up into the dark, sparkling abyss. Realizing that like those small specks we overlook in the night sky we are as well, which makes you even smaller. You’re not as big as you think you are. You’re not as important as you imagine being. You are apart of the micro that is the macro to this world and to our universe. And that is what you need to realize before you can become humble: before you can make any real significance of your existence.
