Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln
In the wee hours of the night, I sometimes awaken to a sense of smallness.
This sense comes paired with a mental image: a cog inside a giant machine. Turning endlessly, seeming to go nowhere or do nothing with its existence. If somebody were to remove this smallest of cogs…would anyone notice or care?
Imagine that cog. That might well be you, or at least the way that you occasionally feel. In short, we might feel insignificant, even worthless at times. The truth? We are all actually incredibly powerful creatures. And I mean that in both the big and the small senses.
How so?
Men Upon the Moon
We might know the story.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the two first human beings- in reality, the first two lifeforms we know of- to step foot on soil that was not their own. Somehow, through toil, determination, grit and serendipity, 1969 was the year in which a manned spacecraft first landed itself upon the moon.
This was, in no small sense, a big deal.
It took over a week for the launch of the Apollo 11 to lead to re-entry and landing: 195 hours, 18 minutes, and 35 seconds, to be precise. In this time, not only were samples taken from the moon to return to earth, but messages from countries around the world were left on the lunar surface.
We took from the moon and gave to the moon in return. Incredibly, there were no casualties in this historic mission, although the greater mission to arrive on the moon in the first place certainly had sacrifices.
I bring up the story of the historic moon landing because it is the nature of humanity to stretch. To create goals of over-achievement and reach them. My meditation on this philosophy of modern life suggests this isn’t for everyone. It isn’t. I may never go to the moon. The good news is that I do not have to.
The power of humans is, in this case, to provide knowledge and experiences for those who cannot gain them otherwise. It’s this love our fellow human society that drives the most amazing advancements; we wish to provide for others, while also providing for ourselves.
Of course, not all of the time are we involved in those events which will change the world and history; Apollo 11, much like Rome, was not built in a day. What about when our lives take on a less hectic and more mundane pace? What about the little moments? The ones we otherwise take for granted and forget?
Men Out in the Rain
Me and rain have a relationship, as you may recall. I enjoy a healthy rain as much as the next fellow, but it’s annoying when you have to contend with being out in it for hours.
Not a large annoyance, and far from being life-threatening, it’s one of those mildly frustrating things that you must allow to pass by you without concern.
I was out volunteering my time for a local organization this past weekend and discovered that I could have spent my time underneath a rock for all of the response that we received.
Nobody was really out on my campus and so nobody passed by our tent where we stood soaked and dripping from our shoulders to our boots.
It was thankless, though not difficult, work. In the end, what response we did receive might not have been enough to rationally justify the cost and time it took to set up the event in the first place.
That doesn’t mean it wasn’t worthwhile, but it does mean that we felt the same way that many NASA engineers must have felt as they tested, through trial and error, propulsion systems, engine coils and targeting computers: useless.
Where is the vaunted power of humans in this context? How can this experience be a sterling example of small-scale human power? It could be viewed as a run-of-the-mill failure.
The aspect of power comes in when it is considered through parallel with NASA’s mission to land men upon the moon.
NASA was inspired by political suggestion to ensure that the United States landed men upon the moon before the Soviet Union. I was inspired to get the organization I represented more members and more donations. Ostensibly selfish goals.
Loftier, more noble goals presented themselves, though: by landing men on the moon, NASA not only proved it possible, but advanced science and the body of human knowledge and experience. I may not have shattered any boundaries, but I gave of my time and energy (in an admittedly small, but still inconvenient way) to help those in need get information I believed that they deserved to know.
I may have come away feeling unsuccessful, but my success truly arose from my desire to serve my community and my completion of a task that had that objective.
There’s another relevant quote to this topic that I want to share:
When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.
Malala Yousafzai
Ms. Yousafzai is correct. By acting, we can become powerful. By simply doing something outside of the norm, we can change not only the world (eventually), but ourselves and our environments.
There is no hope for a world where people are convinced that they can suffer adversity, but not handle power. If we are convinced that we should fear Mr. Lincoln’s quote from the beginning of this article- that we should fear being given power, so that it does not corrupt us- we will be unable to handle the immense power that we have to share with others.
Humas are powerful in big ways and small, but we are also fragile.
Between these two poles of absolute strength and debilitating weakness lies the human condition. We have to decide upon each principle and each moment what we have to do, and what we have to give.
And that is the power of humanity.
Smallish World 