The little things

             

    Everyone likes the superlative adjective. Humans love the superlative adjective. He thought he was the fastest until he met the cheetah, he thought he was the smartest being alive until the possibility of aliens came into the picture. Humans now seek aliens for many reasons but a major one would be to test how smart they are. If that’s not enough he has always referred to himself as the superior being, living on a superior planet to do superior things (in the superlative).

            Humans always thought they were at the centre of the universe until Nicholas Copernicus proved that the earth actually revolves round the sun. To wake them up from the dream someone had to pay the price. Galileo Galilei was sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life when he advocated for this theory. On top of that, we live on the continental crust of the earth which is the light and dry version of the oceanic crust. In other words, we live on the scum of the earth. Now we know that we are not kings and queens of the universe. We are just living on an insignificant part of an insignificant component of the universe, yet we still think we are the greatest.

            Well, topping that up is the fact that we come from chimpanzees. Yes, those relatively ugly animals you see in the park, they are not our cousins, but our blood related siblings. We share more than 98% of our DNA with the chimpanzees. At this point we should realize how ordinary we are and that someday chimpanzees could evolve into much more superior beings.

             Big stuff, big results and big status, we love it. After all it is the strongest who should survive not the stronger or the strong. Charles Darwin called it natural selection, and therefore it is natural. History on the other hand provides undeniable facts that we are not who we think we are. Its’ probably saying something. Perhaps, the superlative isn’t exactly what we need. Maybe it’s the small things that make the difference.

            Take an example of one of the earliest ice ages that caused earthquakes, continental drift, irreversible processes on earth and all that other big stuff. You might think it was caused by big movements in the earth’s core or some extra-terrestrial asteroids. Not exactly, the culprit behind was none other than the cyanobacteria . The slimy blue-green algae that grow on abandoned ponds made it to history. How? Simply stated, they were the first organisms to produce oxygen by photosynthesis. Oxygen burnt the greenhouse gas –methane- allowing the earth to freeze over; So much power for just algae.

 

Someone once said, “Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together.” I don’t remember who said that but he/she must have been very wise. We all want great things, that’s natural. While fighting for the big stuff, we shouldn’t forget that they are a combination of small things and perhaps it’s the little things we really need. Have an amazing day!

A bumpy ride

   

 

  Determination, focus , goals, dreams  the words I keep using on every other blog post, how are they practical?  How can any human being keep track of one lifelong dream when life is just too short and gets even more dynamic? I don’t know how, I don’t even know if it’s necessary to have a dream.  The musician Tim Minchin argues that we shouldn’t waste our lives chasing a lifetime dream but we should just focus on what’s in front of us. I don’t know it that’s okay, but the story of one man seems to have all the answers.

       In 1987 Dr. Ben Carson was expected to separate the Siamese twins, the first operation of its kind so far. One might assume that just because he had ‘gifted hands’ , he had nailed it already. Well, not quite true. Dr. Carson had just lost twins in a miscarriage not so long ago. Feeling hopeless and defenseless he now had to save twins, not his own but of hopeful parents. At this stage most people would question their abilities and just decline the request but not Dr. Carson. Dr. Carson is different (from most of us), he wanted to be the best he could be and it is this surgery that proved his genius.

       In high school I’m pretty sure Dr. Carson had no dream of becoming the best neurosurgeon in the world. He just wanted to be the best he could be. He had good grades, but then adolescence hit and he started slacking; he valued ‘friends’ and fashion than his own future.  Consequently his grades started slacking. This was a wake up call and soon he got back on track. Even though he slacked somewhere he still made it to history.

       Some people can consider having a big dream to be limiting and torturous; we are forced to improvise every second of everyday. There is pressure from all corners to change what we know and what we think we know, in the end it might seem logical to just go with the flow. Perhaps logic isn’t always a good thing; life without a dream is just an uncoordinated set of events.

       Life is made of bumps, potholes and valleys and isn’t always straight as we plan it to be. It’s like driving at night. You don’t see the destination, you only see a few meters illuminated by the flashlights but you have the destination in mind no matter what happens in the way you will get there.

       So Tim Minchin says, "have micro ambitions and achieve them to enjoy life". That's definitely true, life is even more meaningful if these ambitions are born out of a dream.  Have a big dream and that’s enough. Don’t worry about the details on how they will materialize, life will take care of that. Life is a bumpy ride not a smooth road, even though it beats us a couple of times, the secret is keep moving. An amazing life waits ahead.