I don’t know how many others suffer from this malady, but I see the world through a six-foot perspective. That’s the average height of most men, although I came up just a little short on that one. Back in Boy Scouts, I learned to measure how tall a tree was by having a six foot person stand next to it, I’d then hold out an arm with a thumb raised to equal his height and count the number of times it took for his height to reach the top. Multiply by six, and you got pretty close.
However, six feet represents more than just height, but a worldview. I tend to evaluate life and others from my own near six-foot perspective. Or, from my humanity, from my ego-centrism. How can this person benefit me? How will this event impact my life? Do I fit into this group of people?
If that six-foot perspective drives our values, then we can evaluate options, at least on a short term basis, by how they benefit me. Or us. Are gas prices too high? Then let’s use oil extraction methods that may present dangers to the environment. After all, the earth is to benefit us, right? Why should America cut back on carbon dioxide emissions if other major economic powers don’t? We’d be at a disadvantage.
A six foot perspective can justify all of that, and more. Which is why I ride.
On last summer’s ride to Alaska, I put on about 630 miles on each of the first two days, despite a big delay the second day to get a flat tire fixed. One man, two days, 1260 miles. But a six-foot perspective gets shattered by that scale. I rode 6.6 million feet that day. Or, 1.1 million people, each six feet tall, laid end to end. Suddenly, that six foot perspective doesn’t quite work.
It can’t work on a global scale. It seems pretty big, on just a human level. But when applied to the massive size of our earth, it breaks down.
I ride, long distances sometimes, for that reason. Long rides force me to realize I’m not the be all and end all, but that I’m pretty puny in comparison to the earth. And frankly, the earth is pretty puny compared to our solar system, our galaxy, our universe. That doesn’t fill me with pride at my accomplishments.
These rides echo the psalmist, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers…what is man that you are mindful of him?”
Even so, God loves this puny, tiny being. I like that.
Kick Starting the Application
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 the greatest, where do you land on evaluating life from your own personal benefit? Where would God like you to be in practice? What one area can you work on this week?