Appreciation of Things Both Great and Small

"You've got to be able to see the forest and the trees." -Dr. Jim Wee

A more appropriate analogy could not have been created.  This is a quote from my Freshman Biology professor when discussing the cycles of the human body.  To some nothing could be further from their field of interest, but there is something profound in that simple message.  Whether it be the forest for the trees, molecules for the organism, or a person for humanity, the point is we cannot have one without the other.  It is vital that we not only look at the small, but understand how it makes up the great and the importance of that.  I love how in Biology, I learned the value of the ATP cycle and cell function to the entirety of the human body.  This is a sort of philosophy that I have taken throughout my college career.  This idea of both great and small transcends subject matter, and career.  To make a connection to religion during a physics lecture is a profound experience.  I have had the pleasure of having that experience.  Something as small as energy or the simple idea of matter, which is essentially the most basic of materials can bring about an overwhelming appreciation for something as great as a divine being.

This can translate even further into humanity, and people.  Realizing a respect for things both great and small means understanding the value of all things, or at the very least that all things have value.  With this thought in mind, we are able to appreciate the life of every person.  It is with this mindset that we find love in a world filled with war.  How we can become influential thinkers in terms of immigration laws, labor laws, or simply influential in the life of a child.  It is the idea of appreciating the small that will push me forward to reach out and let someone know that I love them, maybe even if I don't know them.  Tell someone thank you.  Compliment an outfit.  Make someone feel included.   It is the idea of the appreciation of things great and small that makes me appreciate these small gestures and understand how they can grow to be great influences in peoples' lives.  To really do something seemingly small that is great to another individual!

Appreciation of things both great and small, asks me to look beyond myself and my comfort zone to understand how seemingly unimportant things have great meaning.  For example, I saw a play tonight in which a baked chicken was used.  The baked chicken was real.  An animal lost its life to feed others and that is honorable indeed, but the play I found not as intriguing.  In the play there was discussion of hunger, and it became hard to focus on the message over the tears of people who could have used that wasted chicken.  The food item was used as a prop for a play with a lost provocative message.  This was disrespectful in my opinion, to the animal, the playwright, and people who could have used that food.  Most would say, I am going over board and how might one or two baked chickens matter in the world when tons of food go to waste yearly, but it is appreciation for the small that shows one the reason it is important to want to change things on a greater level.  I am thankful for much of my education at Loyola, but I am most thankful for the reinforcement of my appreciation of things both great and small.