I have been reflecting on this quote for a while, and I’m
not sure I agree with it at all. I cannot help thinking of Mother Theresa’s
words: “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with
great love.” Rare and exceptional deeds seem to me like they come once in a
blue moon, and I don’t think it’s worth spending your whole life hoping to one
day accomplish something so magnificent. While some people manage to reach
those heights and be exceptional, the majority of the human beings die without
having their name immortalized in history. In fact, I often wonder once you die
and all the people that knew you die, it’s like you never existed. You just become
an unknown name in a tombstone, and our lives are so small and so meaningless
compared to the rest of the universe that we spent our lives without leaving a
dent in the world.
Let’s
take for example a doctor, one in a small hospital in town. His name would not
be remembered, unless he is the best in his field. Unless he achieves something
incredible, something only he could give to the world, something like finding
the cure for cancer. Chances are that this doctor would not achieve any of
these things. However, the lack of that exceptional discovery does not make him
less of a doctor. His thousand commonplace actions mean the world to those he
has been able to touch. The lives that he saves daily are his own exceptional
deeds, because without him those people would have died.
This
takes me to my next point, a rare and exceptional deed is very relative to the
circumstances. Who decides what is considered exceptional? Who decides what is
commonplace? What happens when great things are done every day in the simplest
actions? That’s like making the exceptional attainable for the common folk. As
I was growing up my dad always told me that I had to make it a point to never
be mediocre no matter what I do. It doesn’t matter if I’m winning the Nobel
Peace prize, or giving food to the hungry, all my actions should be exceptional
and done with great love.
