Feeling Small

For 20 years of my life, I’ve heard of the Grand Canyon. I knew that people traveled from all over the world to see it, and it was spoken of in such awe. After listening to people talk this way about it for so long, I felt certain that there was no way that it could live up to its reputation. To be honest, I didn’t even have much of a desire to go and see it because “a big gorge” just never really excited my imagination. How cool could it really be?

Despite my unnecessary cynicism, I went with some friends to see it over Spring Break, and that was one of the few times I have truly been speechless.

We went right after it had snowed a little bit in the area, which we learned from locals was actually a really lucky thing, because the layers of snow in the canyon allowed us to actually see more of the depth. The canyon is so enormous that the distance from the viewer and the bottom of the canyon floor can make it look flat, almost like a flat Hollywood backdrop.

The snow actually managed to highlight the different edges and cliffs in a really cool way in certain areas.

And if the vastness and beauty of it wasn't enough, we stayed until sunset and saw the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen.

These photos don't even begin to capture what it actually looked like. Seeing the sunset, the snow, the pine trees, the vast emptiness below us, it was truly something to behold.

In the scope of the world around me, I have felt smallest on 2 occasions: looking up at the stars and imagining the reality of the galaxies I'm looking at, and standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon.

There can be some comfort in feeling small. Being small in the scope of the universe doesn't mean you're insignificant, but it does show that the world doesn't depend on you. We can feel so focused on our own lives that we forget the reality of the world beyond us, and sometimes it takes standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon to remember that.