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“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.” –Stephen Hawking
Our physical universe is full of scaling. Higher, lower, bigger, smaller…it’s all relative.
Our much revered Sun – the source of our survival – is just an average star compared to the vast galaxy of stars in the cosmos. Our one and only earth is merely a minor planet, with much bigger planets even amongst our known list of planets as can be seen in the pic.
Likewise we humans may feel we are the best of all the species but vastness of nature scales us down and we become insignificant and small, like any other animal.
Look closely at the below pictures that I clicked in Sydney and surrounds. There is vast sea, there is land, mountains and trees but where are humans? Look for them. Very small part of nature.
And last but not the least….me in my old picture below. Clicked in India (in mid 1990s)

Climbing a huge branch/root of huge Kapok tree (Ceiba) at Lal Bagh, Bangalore/Bangaluru
In the above picture the giant tree makes a regular woman look smaller than she is And the little shrub on the floor gets totally ignored by the bigger size of the woman and the Kapok tree.
Here are my lyrics…
“I really look up to you
so please don’t put me down…”
Of course, it’s all relative…our size, beauty, greatness/smallness, even our status and wealth.
Who else knows this better than us humans who spend our whole life living up to others, trying to get taller, bigger, thinner, prettier or richer than our friends and relatives. Appearances matter too much. Bulimic and anorexic young girls aspire to create bigger pouts and whatever, like their media role-models (KK).
Humans label each other as a pygmy or a giant, based on their size. But all shapes and sizes are normal. Gulliver of Gulliver’s Travels experienced this very well, as the giants and Lilliputians cared for him better than his own-sized people. In nature, giant dinosaurs had their own world as now big elephants do. We admire them for their size. And yet, tiny but perfectly intelligent and organised, ants are no less than anyone.
We humans are rich or poor only by comparison. A person with two cars and three properties is poorer than somebody with five cars and six properties. C’mon guys!! Time to grow up. And never allow or train your children to have comparisons based on their barbie doll, video games and later smartphones. There are many in the world who don’t even have these toys to play with, not even a very old model.
Also, how to know we are smart or dumb? Who decides that? An Einstein-like genius will be considered more intelligent than the smartest teacher in the best school around town. Likewise, even a really smart artist will fall short in front of legends like Picasso. But for a mother whose child has Autism or Down’s Syndrome, intelligence means her child’s ability to tie shoe laces or pick up a spoon to eat or read basic alphabets. And that’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Never let others decide you are big or small.
Be brave! Be proud of who you are…
When people try to scale you down, just stand tall.
~~~
My post was in response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Scale.”
© All rights reserved by alkagirdhar.wordpress.com 2015
What a great post! I wish more people thought the way you do.
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Thanks dear!! Am sure deep in their hearts many people do, you being one. I scale my efforts as invisibly small…just a drop in the ocean.
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But every drop counts for something… adds up. And you, my dear, have a magnificent gift with words.
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Thank you so much!! It means a lot to me.
I just keep writing with my eyes closed as thoughts come along. My non-premium blog has been running by itself, my own efforts. Haven’t undertaken any Blogging 101/201 course and even forgot to accept the awards that came my way. Thus, I never got a chance to develop any wider community to advise me one-to-one about my site.
But any comments or suggestions are heartily welcome from all of you.
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You are a fine writer, and with just a few minor editing aids, you could have a career ahead of you. And the editing is somebody else’s job. You just keep on writing.
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That was indeed a pocketful of inspiration. I hope I find a way. Thanks again.
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You’re welcome!
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I enjoyed your photos and thoughts although I disagree with Mr. Hawking about humans being an advanced breed of monkey. 🙂
janet
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Yes, he shouldn’t have hurt our sentiments as we are not monkeys. We are refined chimps – Great Apes.
But at least Mr Hawking has scaled us much better than the less-advanced monkeys who just eat, breed and romp around merrily. We, the advanced monkeys, are the only ones who can understand how big the Universe is.
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Alka, I believe that God created humans and animals separately, different species entirely. That’s where my disagreement with Mr. Hawking occurs.
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