I got to see the world from the shoulders of giants

Yesterday was All Saints Day at church. Being relatively new to the Methodist church, this is a new event for me. We had the chance to bring photos of loved ones that we have lost to honor and to remember. The people that immediately came to mind were my dad and my Granny Brewer. But I couldn’t bring the pictures. I just couldn’t. And during church and the rest of the day, I just felt melancholy. 

Grief is like that. Sometimes it hits you at unexpected times no matter how long it’s been since the initial loss. I was telling my Disciple Bible Study leader how I was feeling and why. He told me he had heard an expression that morning that he thought might mean something to me. “I got to see the world from the shoulders of giants.” 

In the eyes of the world, my dad wasn’t a giant. Neither was my grandmother. But they were giants to me. They both had such a powerful influence on my life. And losing the both of them within one years time left a huge hole in my life.

I got to see the world from the shoulders of giants.

At the end of Peter and the Starcatcher, the show Melissa one act play did this last spring, there is a line where Molly is talking to her father about her sadness over leaving Peter Pan. She says “It’s supposed to hurt. That’s how you know it meant something.”

I am so grateful that it meant something. Even though it hurt to lose them. Even though it still hurts to not have them. 

I got to see the world from the shoulders of giants.

I wonder if they had any idea the influence they had on me and on others? I think if you had asked that question of them, they would’ve looked at you in amazement or even possibly like you were under the influence of something you shouldn’t be. Which makes me think, how many people am I influencing without ever knowing it? How many people are you? What will our legacies be? Will we carry the legacy of giants? Not because of the money we made, or the things that we built, or the societal influence we wielded, but because of the character we displayed,  and the love that we showed. 

I think we all have the capacity and the opportunity to be giants. In the lives of our children and our grandchildren. In the lives of those we know and even those we do not. Our influence goes far beyond what most of us imagine. Let us honor that influence. Let us be aware that each day we build the legacy that we will someday leave. Let’s make it a good one. To those whose lives we touch. Whether we know it or not. 

Let us be giants for others. And show them the world from our shoulders.