“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time and space.” - Albert Einstein

Humans are just a temporary part of the universe.
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Individual humans are rather insignificant.  Their existences are fleeting.  Homo sapiens have existed for only 200,000 years out of the total 4.54 billion years Earth has been alive, and in my 17.46 years of life, I have merely lived through 0.000000385% of the total time ever elapsed on earth.  If I placed all the individual humans together, the human race as a whole is a little more significant, having lived through 0.00441% of the time.  From an biological standpoint, the lack of permanence of the human species facilitates change, as new proliferations of a species foster mutations in genetic code and the inheritance of these mutations in offspring.  A permanent human race is a static one, and a static race fails to adapt to the environment.  Of course, permanence eliminates the need for adaptation, and the lack of it forces humans to change.

Impermanence does not only lead to biological change; it also influences the mind.  Gilgamesh, when he does not find permanence on his quest for immortality, changes his perspective on death and accepts his own mortality.   He would not have to if there were indeed a solution to immortality because, well, he would be immortal and his initial thoughts about the existence of immortality would be right.  Instead, after he fails Utnapishtim’s test and cannot stay up for seven days, he knows his life is leading him to death.  Even Enkidu, whilst on his death bed, alters his opinion on becoming civilized after he becomes aware of his fleeting moments on earth.  Otherwise, he would have remained content living in society.

Humans draw attention to the impermanence of life ironically through the fight against it.  When Jennifer Aniston says, “The secret it out; hydration is in” in her commercials for Aveeno, she is bringing attention to the one thing that the product is trying to hide.  A cream whose sole purpose is to reduce brown age spots is another reminder that the body changes over time and cannot remain youthful.  The cream tries to hide or prevent change in our body, but it ultimately cannot create human imperviousness to time.  Even the vitamins that my parents eat, such as Omega-3 and calcium supplement pills, that supposedly make them healthier are daily reminders that their bodies are aging and getting older.

My 0.000000385% is rather insignificant relative to the entire planet.  It is fleeting only when I compare it to the total amount of time that has passed.  Relative to my time on earth, I have lived 100%.  While everyone may not think, and should not think, that their time is the only time that occurs on Earth, humans do not necessarily consider the entire universe when they get up and and go about their business.  They only think of the immediate future, say the next few hours, days, months, or years.  To each human, 10 years is not short and does not pass by in a blink of an eye.  For a person who lives one hundred years, it represents 10% of their life, a significant portion of their time on earth.  Humans make their own lives significant, which motivates them to go about and do their business.  Humans choose to analyze the effects of a decision in the next five or ten years, when it is still significant, not the next million years, when their decision will have no meaning.

Biologically speaking, the meaning of life is to create more life.  A species’ primary purpose for existing is to reproduce and carry on the genes that make the species exist.  When each parent dies, the offspring are what they leave behind; they are their meaning in life, and the concept of having a part of an individual remain after death carries on to everyday life.  Humans do not make choices whose influences only last in the present moment but instead last through many more, which explains their obsession with making something that “lasts.”  Members of society are preoccupied with fame because they think fame brings remembrance after death.  Celebrities seem to have a lasting legacy that a “normal” human desires.  The meaning of life is to leave something behind.

Humans create eternal life by investing in the things that inherently cannot die.  Anything that one generation passes on to the next cannot cease to exist until the human race ceases to exist (or a person is horrible enough to stop the flow into the next generation).  Religion, literature, and ideas all cannot, strictly speaking, die.  Even some few thousand years after his death, a reader who opens the book version or reads the clay tablets containing the Epic of Gilgamesh will feel as though Gilgamesh is alive.  He is alive when he fights Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven.  He is alive when he laments about the death of Humbaba.  Gilgamesh is not crying and ordering a statue in memory of Enkidu in his grave.  The ideas and items that trickle down from generation to generation create eternal life and order in what may otherwise be a chaotic world.

Still, even though humans may deceive themselves into thinking they are important, they cannot change their amount of insignificance.  Even though I get up and do my business everyday, I still cannot deny the fact that I am just another insignificant point in a continuing universe and continue to grow more insignificant as even more time passes.

I Am Not a Hero

Lyra Belacqua is the hero of His Dark Materials, closing all inter-dimensional windows to stabilize the universe.
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The word "hero" comes from the Greek word meaning "protector" or "defender", and heroes in Greek mythology are demigods, implying that those who can be considered heroes are never fully human, nor can any regular human hope to achieve such a title.  However, readers and critics alike recognize protagonists from Beowulf, The Odyssey, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as heroes, heroes who are fully human.  The definition of a hero has expanded to include not only humans from this world and demigods, but also creatures and humans of another realm, as seen in movies such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, or The Lord of the Rings.  The division between good and evil in all of these works of art allows heroes to form.  Regardless of which world the characters come from, these heroes have all gone on some long, extended journey (of the works that I have read or watched) that require sacrifice on their personal part to save or protect something near to them or the world at large.  A hero need not be of an un-human race, but what they do makes then seem superior to humans and other-worldly.

Heroic actions or behavior is an act that represents or mimics what a hero would do in a certain situation, but the doer is not necessarily a hero.  The individual may have some other defining characteristics that contradict those of a hero.  If I were to save a child from a burning house, my action would be heroic, but I would not be a hero.  I did not go on a long, extended journey that required personal sacrifice.  To have the adjective “hero” describe a person takes time and repetition of heroic acts, not just one single selfless act.  Superman is not a hero because he saved one person once, but because he does it repeatedly without selfish motive and for great good!

Being called a heroine does not make a woman any less of a hero.  There is no difference in meaning, besides the gender issue, between these words, but the word “hero” conjures up images of masculine figures of the male gender.  Female heroes are present in the works of literature or film mentioned previously, but most not think of them as the heroes of the works.  When prompted to say who the hero of the Harry Potter series is, the majority of readers will respond with Harry Potter.  Yet by the same definition that makes the boy who lived a hero, Hermione Granger is also a hero, and she is certainly no less of a hero than Harry.  She makes many sacrifices to help Harry defeat Lord Voldemort, and her sacrifices may even be more difficult to make than Harry’s.  While Harry has no choice but to grow up without his parents and fight Lord Voldemort, Hermione consciously erases her parents’ memories and any trace of her life from their brains to safely embark on a journey to defeat Voldemort.

Heroes represent their moral values.  They do what is right for others and the world, intentionally or unintentionally, and better the lives of all humans.  Huckleberry Finn, by ripping up the letter that contains the location of Jim, intentionally makes a decision to follow his conscience and to view Jim as a human and not just a slave.  However, he unintentionally and unknowingly does what is right for the country as a whole and not just for Jim, recognizing African-Americans as people and not just property.  Still, even though heroes are seemingly the best examples of human conduct, not all humans need heroes.  Some may need them to have as role models, a person to idolize and help shape their goals in life.  Others need heroes to get work done that they cannot do themselves, such as destroying the Ring and defeating Sauron, but some people do not need heroes at all, choosing to do the work themselves and making their own goals.  These people choose to lead their own independent lives regardless of how others lived.

“Unhappy the land that needs heroes”, says Bertolt Brecht, a statement that reflects the exact purpose of heroes.  All heroes change some undesirable aspect of the world, and the presence of a hero indicates that there is, or there was, something wrong with the land.  Nobody needs to make personal sacrifices like heroes do if life is ideal.  Frodo would not need to destroy the Ring if Sauron did not exist and Middle-earth was a land of peace.  Without Lord Voldemort terrorizing the magical world, Harry Potter would not be Harry Potter, the boy who lived.  Even though some humans do not need heroes, the world needs heroes to save itself from chaos or destruction.

The Panserbjørne

The Panserbjørne are armoured sentient bears who make their own armour out of sky-iron.  Panserbjørne can never be deceived, unless the panserbjørn is Iofur Raknison.  Some live in Svalbard, and they can speak many languages.