Scientific Proof That Each Person Matters

Back in 2006 when I was interested in forming a clear mental picture of world history, I came across Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" here at home. My brother Paddy had bought the book when he was doing a gap year internship in Australia the previous year. As you can imagine, I began poring over it almost immediately.

Still interested in mastering world history, I pored over the book again in 2011. Sometimes funny, sometimes enlightening, it read like a who's who of the science world. And some interesting facts I gleaned from it convinced me beyond doubt that each person matters. Okay, let me state my case.

According to Bill Bryson, to be alive in the 21st century and smart enough to know it is no joke. Each of us is a product of a long series of evolution and reproduction that began 3.8 billion years ago, from single-cell animals to the civilized people we are today. The fact that we are here means none of our ancestors died before having a child that continued the reproduction process which eventually made us.

If I may digress a bit, we are not going to stay here on Earth forever because, sorry to say, death awaits us all. According to the gospel of St. John, the godly ones among us will reign with Christ in heaven forever. I go along with St. John.

Coming back to the facts in Bill Bryson's book that convinced me everybody matters, each of us is made up of very small atoms which are themselves not alive. In fact, the atoms that make us don't know we are alive. They are mindless particles that will make other things after we die.

Interestingly, the same atoms that make us are the same atoms that fail to make life on the other planets of the solar system and perhaps even beyond. That's, of course, the miracle of life that makes me believe in the Bible.

Also interesting to note is that 99.99% of all species that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct. We are therefore living on a planet that is good at sustaining life but even better at ending it.

Indeed, to be alive in the 21st century and smart enough to know it is no joke. That's why I am convinced each person matters. So, as long as we are walking in obedience to God's Word, let us believe in our dreams, in our abilities and in own unique way of thinking.