The man who recklessly strives for glory and counts it his highest goal should consider the far-reaching shores of heaven and the narrow confines of the earth. He will be ashamed of a growing reputation which cannot fill so small a space. Why do proud men try in vain to throw this world's burden from their shoulders? though their fame spread to remote lands and be sung by many voices, though their proud families acquire high honors, still death is contemptuous of such glory and treats the humble and proud in th same manner. [Unnecessary Censorship]
Boethius is your typical teenage philosophizer (read slacker) and is basically asking "What's the point?" Why do we strive to please others? get an education? spend our lives working at an office, or some other high-paying, but unsatisfying job? Why do we spend our lives working to buy what we want, becoming unsatisfied with what we have, then going back to work to get more money to buy the new MacBook, the shiny red Lexus, the two-story Tudor house in a gated community, The newest movies, the latest video games (Yes, I went there), The cutest clothes, the crappy pair of shoes that we'll wear not more than four times before they fall apart but cost $70?
You see where I am (he is) getting at? We buy all these things to earn recognition. We want others to remember our names. We want to go out with a bang. But what's the point. Your name may never even be heard outside your own country. much less the other side of the world.
That's another thing he's getting at, let's assume we become famous, renowned all over the world for... let's say... curing cancer, or AIDS, or whatever you want. So for two or three weeks, governments are chomping at the bit to meet with you. News shows will pay through the nose to get you on their show. Everyone with a TV, radio, computer, or friends has heard of you. Congratulations, you've become king of the world for a couple of days.
Now let's consider the size of your little domain. The earth has a diameter of roughly 7,926 miles. or .000000001 light years. The solar system that contains the earth is about .001 light years across. That's 1,000,000 times the diameter of the Earth. The milky way, our galaxy, is about 100,000 light years across, or 100 million times the size of the solar system. The observable universe is roughly 93 billion light years across. If you were to stack that up against the size of the earth. The results are 93,000,000,000,000,000,000 times the size of the earth. feel tiny?
But by the time you stop to fully understand how big that is, you've been replaced by pictures of cats, or hot dance crazes from foreign countries.
~~Cody Martin~~
P.S. commented on Becca's blog, "Water in the Well"
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