Signi­fi­can­ce

I read the first chap­ter of A Brief Histo­ry of Time when Dad was still ali­ve, and I got incre­di­bly hea­vy boots about how rela­tively insi­gni­fi­cant life is, and how, com­pared to the uni­ver­se and com­pared to time, it did­n’t even mat­ter if I exis­ted at all. When Dad was tuck­ing me in that night and we were tal­king about the book, I asked if he could think of a solu­ti­on to that pro­blem. „Which pro­blem?“ „The pro­blem of how rela­tively insi­gni­fi­cant we are.“ He said, „Well, what would hap­pen if a pla­ne drop­ped you in the midd­le of the Saha­ra Desert and you picked up a sin­gle grain of sand with tweezers and moved it one mil­li­me­ter?“ I said, „I’d pro­ba­b­ly die of dehy­dra­ti­on.“ He said, „I just mean right then, when you moved that sin­gle grain of sand. What would that mean?“ I said, „I dun­no, what?“ He said, „Think about it.“ I thought about it. „I guess I would have moved a grain of sand.“ „Which would mean?“ „Which would mean I moved a grain of sand?“ „Which would mean you chan­ged the Saha­ra.“ „So?“ „So? So the Saha­ra is a vast desert. And it has exis­ted for mil­li­ons of years. And you chan­ged it!“ „That’s true!“ I said, sit­ting up. „I chan­ged the Saha­ra!“ „Which means?“ he said. „What? Tell me.“ „Well, I’m not tal­king about pain­ting the Mona Lisa or curing can­cer. I’m just tal­king about moving that one grain of sand one mil­li­me­ter.“ „Yeah?“ „If you had­n’t done it, human histo­ry would have been one way…“ „Uh-huh?“ „But you did do it, so…?“ I stood in the bed, poin­ted my fin­gers at the fake stars, and screa­med: „I chan­ged the cour­se of human histo­ry!“ „That’s right.“ „I chan­ged the uni­ver­se!“ „You did.“ „I’m God!“ „You’­re an athe­ist.“ „I don’t exist!“ I fell back onto the bed, into his arms, and we cra­cked up together.
(Jona­than Safran Foer – Extre­me­ly Loud & Incre­di­bly Close)