Take a step back for a minute. Let all the things that matter fade away for a little bit. Forget about your homework, your friends, everything that has significance in your life. Read this with an open mind. Do the things in our life really matter? Is your life important? I mean, hey, you might be thinking, I’m just a teen, my life can’t matter but really how much does it matter?

Look at our universe. It is said that it goes on forever. There is no end. Just think about that for a second. How can something go on forever and ever and never stop? Feel your finger. It only goes on for a bit and then it stops. The concept that something never ends is very hard for me to understand. I am used to things having an ending. A stopping point. A place where the object is no longer there. And then you think our one planet but there could be billions of other planets with life on them for all we know because the universe goes on forever.

When you look up at the stars what are you seeing? Stars part of the Milky Way Galaxy of course. But that one galaxy is only one of many galaxies in our endless universe. In just our galaxy there is the possibility for a planet with life. A place where other people are living. And how much does your life really matter to our galaxy? Probably not very much. With so many different stars and who knows what our galaxy seems huge and fast compared to your life

Now let’s zoom in a little. Our planet, earth, the only planet with life in our solar system which is in the Milky Way Galaxy, one of the many in our universe is where you happen to live. Its vast, blue, salty ocean covers about 75% of the planet. The rest of it is blanketed with seven continents in which the human race has inhabited. Of all of the species on mother earth you happen to be part of the homo sapiens aka humans. Then out of all the six billion people on earth you are just one of them. Think about that for a sec. One is six billion. Wow, how much does your life influence others just on this planet, universe aside?

Obviously your life in your own town matters the most. There you interact with most of the people there and your life finally seems to have some meaning. Your everyday life has an effect on a lot of people. The people you see every day care about you and you enjoy life.

Thinking about this all makes my head hurt. On one note, my life doesn’t matter very much. There are 5,999,999 other people on this planet alone and most have never heard of me or you. Then there is the possibility that there is life on other planets and that means your life matters even less. Sometimes I use this to my advantage. When something that matters so much to me is getting me upset and angry I just think about how little my life matters. But then on the other note, when I am really excited about something I tell myself how much it matters to other what I do and how I should be careful about my actions. It all depends on how much you look at it whether you want your life to matter or not.