“Wonderful! I’ve never seen a more amazing piece of machinery!”

“But I have! Takato’s parents have a machine in their store that makes bread!”

“Haha! Well, I guess there’s no way Grani here could compete with that!”

“It’s tough!”

– Shibumi and Guilmon, Digimon
Season 3, Digmon Tamers, Episode 48, “Shadow of the Beast King”

Shibumi, aka. Gorou Mizuno, is an accomplished scientist, part of the team that created the artificial intelligences which eventually became digimon. In this scene, he’s marveling at a living, learning machine which can fly and even carry people across the boundary between worlds. It is a magnificent thing to behold, indeed, absolutely the stuff of wonder and imagination made physical, made real. But to Guilmon, the power to fly and move between worlds is dwarfed by the power to make bread. Mind you, he’s a bit obsessed with delicious bread, but it’s still a humbling reminder for Shibumi, which he takes in good humor and stride.

There’s something to that, isn’t there?

There are a great many wonders that mankind has made, and will continue to make:
The pyramids of Egypt, skyscraping towers of glass and metal, and rows and rows of homes for families to raise their children in.
Ships that cross oceans and ships that sail to the moon and beyond, engines that pull tons and tons of weight across entire nations, planes that cross the skies, and cars that take us to grocery stores, to work, and to school games.
Radios, computers, the vast web of the internet that brings us closer together across great distances, and the simple, powerful words, “I love you.”
Ovens and grills that can make every sort of dish, from the finest of any culture’s cuisine, to trays filled of humble loaves of bread.
Basic plumbing, toilets, and washing machines. 😉

The greatest wonders, I think, are the ones we can take most for granted, the normal, ordinary, everyday miracles of humanity.

Baking bread. Healing hands. Laughing children. Enchanting stories. Love, honor, integrity, hope, kindness, joy.

These are the ground beneath our feet, easily taken for granted, but worth every bit as much as the stars we reach for, if not more.

…not that there’s anything at all wrong with reaching towards the stars, of course! 😉