We live in a modern technological society that has become overly enthralled with all the gizmos and gadgets we have created. So many people express oohs and aahs at the newest iPod, cellphone, or whatever else hits the market. We go gaga at the thought of kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes and terabytes.
While I certainly won't deny that I too sometimes find myself awestruck by our rate of technological progress, there's one type of contraption that I think exceeds all these other marvels by a wide margin -- the human body.
If a person owns a vehicle that lasts for 300,000 or more miles, most of us will be royally impressed. Most autos bite the dust long before this time. But when you compare a Honda or Toyota to the human heart, there is no comparison whatsoever.
A human being that lives until the age 70 will possess a heart that will beat approximately 2.6 billion times over a lifetime. That's a mind boggling number, particularly when one considers how poorly we treat our bodies! We drink, smoke, toke, exercise too little, eat too much and generally treat our bodies in the shoddiest of manners. Yet, despite this ill treatment, we can expect hundreds of millions and even billions of steady heartbeats.
Whatever we can envision and whatever we will build, I find it hard to believe that we could ever create something as magnificent as a heart or a waterfall or an eagle. Life itself is the greatest marvel of all and it's a marvel we can't begin to comprehend.
While I certainly won't deny that I too sometimes find myself awestruck by our rate of technological progress, there's one type of contraption that I think exceeds all these other marvels by a wide margin -- the human body.
If a person owns a vehicle that lasts for 300,000 or more miles, most of us will be royally impressed. Most autos bite the dust long before this time. But when you compare a Honda or Toyota to the human heart, there is no comparison whatsoever.
A human being that lives until the age 70 will possess a heart that will beat approximately 2.6 billion times over a lifetime. That's a mind boggling number, particularly when one considers how poorly we treat our bodies! We drink, smoke, toke, exercise too little, eat too much and generally treat our bodies in the shoddiest of manners. Yet, despite this ill treatment, we can expect hundreds of millions and even billions of steady heartbeats.
Whatever we can envision and whatever we will build, I find it hard to believe that we could ever create something as magnificent as a heart or a waterfall or an eagle. Life itself is the greatest marvel of all and it's a marvel we can't begin to comprehend.
The most awesome things in our existence are generally the very things we take for granted, and never give a second thought to.
ReplyDeleteThat - more than anything else - is why western society will fail. Life has become so secure and safe that we give no thought to anything as mundane as daily survival.
When that is what should be at the very top of the list.
And appreciated for what it is: miraculous.