Relevance Our Quest to Matter

Is our journey to find love an attempt to be relevant?  Is it a thinly veiled endeavor to matter, even if only to one other person?  Do we seek this endorsement from another to know that our very existence does have meaning, purpose, and relevance?  Why does our quest to matter seem to govern so much of our existence? 

As an educator I am reasonably sure and can assert that I matter; I matter to the many students who cross the doorway into my classroom every year.  My existence matters in the respective lives they will go on to lead for I helped shape their growth.  Doctors matter to their patients who may succumb to life threatening illnesses without their help.  The doctor knows that often the quality of his patients' lives is improved by their association with him.  Business owners matter to all their employees who may be jobless otherwise.  The business owner knows that many lives depend upon him and the success or failure of his business.  His economic impact is further felt by the surrounding community.  Parents matter to their children for without them (biologically) the child would not exist.  Parents continue to matter as bonds of family and connection continue to form and cement throughout all of their lives.  Churchgoers and the multitude of the faithful know that they matter, because God’s word tells them that they do.  His word reminds them of His infinite love for them.  It seems that our relevance matters only when examined in conjunction with another.

What does that simple utterance imply?

Does it mean that our own relevance is only measured by the lives of others that we touch through the course of ours?  Does it mean that if one is alone he is irrelevant?

I find that hard to believe.  I think each and everyone of us matter and while it may be nice to matter immensely to one other person, we are in our single solitary existence relevant in this big cold and sometimes impersonal world.