Isn’t it crazy to think how little our lives are? In the grand scheme of time, I mean. I heard somewhere that if all of human history were reduced to a day, the span of history we know would be shortened down to just two minutes before midnight. That makes you feel kind of small, doesn’t it?

I suppose I’ve always held somewhat of a nihilistic viewpoint on life. I think it was something I’d tell myself whenever things got hard to reassure myself that it didn’t matter, as nothing really did. Largely, I think that’s still true. But, there’s a little bit of grey space in that thinking that if properly filled, can make all the difference.

If we want to add meaning into our lives, though, we have to start by believing life is meaningful. Especially ours. To illustrate this, think of the world as a gigantic puzzle where each person represents one piece. Sure, maybe you aren’t an integral piece of it, but if your piece was missing it sure would ruin the whole thing, now wouldn’t it? Now think about how each piece fits together and how, only when connected, do they depict life as we know it. Each piece completes the other and therefore if one connection is missing, the whole thing is off.

Just so we’re on the same page here, I’m talking about the butterfly effect; the theory that connects us all through the microscopic decisions we make on a daily basis. These decisions trickle down the latter of time and have lasting effects way down the line. The sound waves of these myopic decisions will ring long after the last time our name is spoken.

“I heard you die twice, once when they bury you in the grave and the second time is the last time that somebody mentions your name.” Thank you, Macklemore. I have to say, I hardly ever disagree with him, but this is a special case. Here’s why: the thinking behind this is that our names carry our memory and once that goes, so do we. But I know, or at least hope, it’s not so simple as all of that. If that’s the case I have a feeling I’d “die” very soon after I hit the ground.

Rather, I think the sum of our existence is measured by how long after we die we continue to have an impact. How can we have an impact after we die, you might ask? This ties back to the butterfly effect.

Join me out on a limb for a second and let me explain.

Let’s hypothesize that as you do your grocery shopping at the local Kroger, you make friendly conversation with the cashier. It’s a simple exchange, and the nicest thing you say is that you like her electric blue eyeshadow, but her boyfriend just broke up with her and it gives her back a shred of hope in humanity. The next customer that comes by is a struggling mother, as can be inferred by the baby formula she’s attempting to buy but is $4 short for. Having a renewed sense of goodwill, the cashier gives her the extra money out of her pocket. She would not have normally done this. The new mother goes home and, having been considering giving the baby away for adoption in hopes it would have a better life, decides that if she follows the old adage “it takes a village,” she and the good-natured people around her can give her child the life it deserves. This puts the child on a much different path, and it ripples in time forever.

You may think I’ve gone off on some sort of a tangent with highly improbable circumstances, but you’d be surprised. Have you ever heard of the seven spheres of influence? Basically, the theory states that everyone in the entire world is connected by seven relations. In fact, for the majority of the world, it’s actually only six (the seventh relation is reserved for the remote sheepherders and special agents of the world).

To give you some perspective, my grandma just so happens to be friends and business partners with Linda McMahon. Recognize her? Maybe you’re not familiar with WWE, but she is its co-founder and that means she just so happens to know former wrestler the Rock! So just through three connections, (me to my grandma, my grandma to Linda, Linda to the Rock) I have a connection to Dwayne the Rock Johnson (who I have always been a massive fan of)! Pretty crazy, right? I bet if we had access to a god-like omniscient view of the world we’d be able to trace some pretty cool connections.

Unfortunately, we don’t.

That’s why I think so many of us feel disconnected and utterly alone. I hope that this makes you feel differently. Even in the slightest, as I hope I’ve illustrated, that little change in heart could have massive implications.

So, please, when you have the opportunity to share a little human decency with a cashier or custodian or some stranger on the street, do so. The fact of the matter is that soon you will die and even sooner will they and, eventually, I’m sure all of humanity will be dust in the wind. In that time create and ignite as much goodwill as humanly possible. As time closes in, it will be the only way you live on.