Ramble
This is going to sound such a stupid line of thought, but anyway. I've been thinking about it on and off for a while, but seeing some photos on Facebook of P, B, and their parents, and suddenly seeing where the resemblances were (P looks like their Dad; B looks like their Mum; yet somehow P and B still very much look like brothers) prompted me to think about this again.
I find it absolutely amazing that, as humans, we were all children. We were all tiny, helpless babies. In fact, we were all, at one stage in our life, single cells - and biologically speaking, our life came from a single cell from a man and a single cell from a woman - two cells not even in the same organism. And so the fertilised ovum eventually results in a fully-formed human being, that has the potential to do great things. I'm not talking necessarily about the famous people, or the ones who change history; while they may do / have done great things, I'm thinking more of the ordinary people who touch and change many lives.
In my initial musings before writing this entry, I was thinking about P and B. The photos of them and their parents (whilst on a group skiing trip) made me wonder how their parents felt, seeing their children growing up, turning into adults leading their own lives, with the potential and ability to change other people's lives. And they themselves have played their part in shaping P and B, by being able to give them a good education, supporting their musical endeavours, etc. So they have played a part in changing the lives that P and B touch.
Humans can have a very powerful effect on others, for good or for bad, and not necessarily through intention. Teachers inspire pupils, giving them a different direction in life; fanatics wreck and end lives when they kill and injure others - terrorists and solitary criminals alike. It's fascinating to think that even small, innocent actions can lead to profound consequences. In the grand scheme of things we are less than insignificant - even our entire solar system is infinitely smaller than a speck of dust in cosmic terms - but within our own world, we can have great power. From that one fertilised ovum can come astonishing things, and it's up to us to use our power wisely.
I've always known that human life was a miracle, but it really hit me when I was looking at those photos: life is actually a miracle far beyond our comprehension, and I had to attempt to [very badly] put it into words.