“One rare and exceptional deed is worth far more than a thousand commonplace ones.”

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.