Our Place

I came across two things recently that kind of blew my mind. On a game show we watched, there was a question about how many red blood cells are in one cubic millimeter of blood. Now, a millimeter is roughly the thickness of a fingernail. So, a millimeter cube of blood would be just a tiny drop on the tip of your finger. Turns out, there are 5 million.

The other statement came from a Facebook post from Amazing Physics. Paraphrasing a bit, it said that not believing that extraterrestrial life could exist is like examining a spoonful of the ocean and determining there are no whales. While there is certainly room for debate on aliens, the image of the proportion of the scoop of water to the vastness of the sea is profound.

These two ideas put humans at a fascinating intersection. There is just as much smaller than us in the microscopic realm as there is bigger than us in the vast universe. Our place in this infinite spectrum challenges the boundaries of our imagination. In times past, the enormity of these extremes would have made me feel diminished and insignificant. However, at this point in my life, it reminds me that I am connected to a much larger system at work.

We each may be just a single stone in a colossal mosaic, but we are part of a magnificent whole. In between the incomprehensible extremes, we all have a place and a purpose that is unfolding every day.