The Bigger Picture: Every human is significant. Anyone who has ever seen a human born will have been overwhelmed by his or her significance. We record both moments of birth and death because we find life so meaningful. Midwives and obstetricians alike remark on being grateful for being part of what they describe as a "miracle".
With such significance, when we were born we have high expectations for the world. We believe every human we encounter will be flexible, enthusiastic, delighted and eager to love us. At the very least, we expected them to be ready and able to assist.
Instead, we often encounter people who were worn out, worried, numb and even violent - probably not feeling significant. We fight for our self worth and our needs at every opportunity. But, one-by-one most of our battles are quashed.
With every struggle lost, a little hope and trust is lost too. Over time, we appear to be insignificant.
Most of us were raised by adults who struggled, yet loved us deeply. They must have misunderstood our battles, seeing them as mundane and without purpose. After all, this world is one that believes the younger you are the less you feel and understand: "she doesn't understand", "he won't remember", "it won't bother them".
Actually, the younger you are, the most access you have to learning, thinking, empathy and physical resolve. As babies, we are probably the most intelligent of our whole lives. We are also incredibly dependent. But the logic that sees this type of dependency - infancy - and suggests that children do not fully think, learn and feel is mistaken.
Then there are the structures of our society that systematically mistreat people, leaving us isolated, humiliated, confused and immobile - the very real effects of sexism, class, racism, sectarianism, disability and gay oppression. All of these forces keep us confined in boxes, hindered in the full expression of ourselves.
When I walk down the street, I can see a personal history in the expression of each individual I meet. People carry distinctly pained looks on their faces. Cynicism and despair abound, as do numbness and the need for distraction.
It seems that very few human beings hold onto a sense of significance while surviving in adulthood. This deep sense of insignificance is advertised daily in our clothes, posture, choices, even the foods we eat.
When you hold back on the full expression of yourself, you deny the world one of its true gems. Getting out of our box, however, means deciding to act in human ways and unavoidably in contradiction to our oppressive systems.
Not easy, I know. In the past our heroes have been shot and our heroines erased from history. On first consideration, annihilation seems inevitable.
However, since we're already destroying the planet and settling for mediocre lives, I think we've nothing to loose. Go on, I dare you.
What if we acted on our significance? What impact could we have? I have noticed that the more I do significant things, the more people encourage me. If we could get in the habit of acting significantly, we could also set in motion a system of receiving significant feedback. We could plan to make it difficult to deny our true worth.
Again, I know, most of us were abandoned somewhere at the beginning or middle of our childhoods, and were never shown how to become powerful adults. We have survived and gotten older, but stopped growing along the way. Although, our species is meant to be close, love and help each other; most of our models of "well-functioning" adults are of people who are numb, isolated and die early of stress-related disorders. If you look closely enough, I think you will even see in them an eight-year-old staring back at you, right here in the present.
Fully developed and independent adult humans, I think, would be warm, vulnerable, deeply emotional, flexible and always, always learning from the world. These people might make decisions about when to focus on their struggles and when it's of no use. Strangers on the street, for example, won't stop to help. Neither will most of the people we work or socialise with. Hopefully, there is one or two in your life who will. These are the people to sit down with and take turns showing our struggles, giving each other a hand and planning our lives so that we get to know how significant we are as often as possible.
So, if you decided to be who you were born to be, what would you do? You certainly wouldn't walk away and set up a safe corner on the fringes of the world. No, you'd set up camp right at the centre of the world where they could have the greatest impact. It's probably the hardest place to be, but it's definitely the most significant.
• Shalini Sinha is an independent producer, counsellor and journalist. She is a consultant on issues of equality. She has lectured on Women's Studies in UCD and co-presents RTÉ's intercultural programme Mono