Sunday, February 5, 2012

The Present Alone is Significant

"Are great dramatic actions really the best clue to understanding human nature? Are they not, rather, a barrier that hides life as it truly is? Isn't 'insignificance' actually one of our greatest problems? Isn't that our fate? And if so, is that fate our good fortune or bad? Our humiliation or, on the contrary, our solace, our escape, our idyll, our refuge?" - Milan Kundera

The series of moments--small, insignificant happenings of daily life--that we disregard now will later be remembered as the life we lived. Are we waiting for "dramatic actions" which will commemorate our lives? it's very likely they will never happen. The essence of human nature is not found in romantic adventures of heroism and stirring theatrics. Life is simple. Realism is accepting things as they are and being prepared to deal with them accordingly. I confess, I am a realist. Life is not dramatic, no matter how hard we try to make it. It is in the little things that we must invest ourselves, for in them is life in its truest state.

For what it is worth, insignificance, I believe, is our good fortune. In an individualistic culture where so much value is put on the self, to be "insignificant" seems our downfall. Yet, it is not on ourself that we should put a standard to be valued. "Significance" is completely subjective. Significance is the meaning we find in words or events, everything that has a name is significant in some way. However, if everything has significance, does that mean nothing is truly significant by its own right? If the significance of life is found in the insignificance of every-day moments, then perhaps the significance of a person is found in the the way he or she lives in those second-to-second timeframes we call "life".

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