Life 1: The World in a Grain of Sand

Last week, my father and I met with the neo-natal doctor that assisted with my birth at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. This was the first time that I had met Doctor Michael Epstein since he held me after I was born. We spoke with Doctor Epstein for about an hour as my father and I recounted the story of our lives over the past 25 years. It was an extremely powerful conversation for all of us as we brought a sense of closure to a 25 year old story.

One of the most intriguing comments made by Doctor Epstein was the significance of birth to the family members versus the significance of birth to the doctor. For the family members, this is a life cycle event and one of the most memorable days of their lives. For the doctor, however, this is just one of the many births during a given shift at the hospital. These differing viewpoints reveal a very important lesson about how we view our lives. For the doctor, the birth of a child is a mundane, everyday activity, while for the family it is an extraordinary, life altering moment. By realizing that this same juxtaposition can be made every single moment of every single day, we can understand that the world can be encapsulated in a grain of sand. The mundane is extraordinary if we view it that way!