The Diminutiveness
How We're Small Pieces In A Deep Puzzle We'll Never Solve
Diminutiveness
(noun)
the property of being very small in size
synonyms: minuteness, petiteness, tininess, weeness
Do you ever feel a sudden rush of your minuscule size in this very grand world? As I drove down the motorway last week, it hit me like a wave. So much has happened to get us to the points in our lives which we inhabit right this second. This point at which we sit together, sharing this piece.
This piece was driven by one thought: What came before us?
The reason I’m in this position at all writing to you is due to thousands of years of creativity and thinking outside the box. People before us that noticed problems and had the gall to try something new, even if others wouldn’t have accepted it. They saw a more optimistic future.
I’m driving this rather old, beaten-up car because those before us invented bikes, used horses and carts, and used their legs to walk, a dying art form in our modern world.
I listen to music blaring out of my phone speaker since the charger port of my second-hand iPhone no longer works. Before this came the CD, which my old, beaten-up car is still lucky enough to possess a slot for. Even before the compact disk was the vinyl record, a few of which I possess myself for excellent use on rainy Sunday mornings.
I drive along roads paved with concrete, a wonder of the fossil fuel age. Before this, cobbles or dirt tracks lined our transport links.
And none of this is possible without the wheel rolling around first!
(I know, terrible pun. I’m not sorry!)
These examples came to me in a singular situation. All this rich history enabled me to be where I am today as I drive my car down the road.
Imagine the richness of our lives if we were to recognise the history of every moment.
Like now, as I edit this piece, I sit on a chair, typing on a keyboard, not a typewriter, and viewing this through a computer screen. The computer itself, built by my brother, contains various components whose function I can only guess at. But it works. Ingenuity driven by solving problems. Â
Moments like this on the surface can sound rather dull. Sitting on a chair isn’t exactly the epitome of excitement. But it’s these aspects of life that are viewed as rather mundane that construct the makeup of our present moments. When we look a little deeper, it’s these moments that ensure we make the most of now.
Look around. Ask yourself in the moment you sit in now: What came before me?
And more importantly, with your newfound ability to understand your diminutiveness in our grand world, what comes next?
Sources:
"Diminutiveness." Vocabulary.com Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/diminutiveness.
Nah it was a genius pun 😂😂😂
Another word I'll add to my vocabulary! Whenever I think my ideas are silly and unimportant, I remember that it took such ideas to pave the way to the modern world we live in today.