A nuclear explosion is an horrendous and huge death machine to us, but if you look at what goes on in the stars, to the immense forces at work if we set every nuclear weapon off we could it would look like no more than lighting a match against the night sky.
When we look at the decedence of the human spirit and the violence people have perpetrated upon other people we all instinctively get impressed by numbers and whilst we don’t think too often of the horrors of dungeons and the private hells made at all times in all countries, we do stand aghast at millions being listed as victims. Numbers matter to us but they don’t matter to ethics, because if murder is done to one person that is the end of the universe for that person and our opprobrium and horror and revulsion should be absolute. It rarely is.
We all have lives to live, children to bear, families to love, countries to travel and yet in out societies somewhere, we are nothing more than numbers. Statistics of age, gender,wealth, buying capacity and life span. No human being anywhere for any reason should allow anyone to make them no more than a number. When we allow ourselves to be numbers we limit out civilization, we deprive ourselves of a portion of our humanity and we leave ourselves open to being ignored and abused.
Sometimes you need to see yourself from a distance to understand who you are.