Nothing matters – Isn’t that just convenient? What a great life stance sure to get its adopter to where he wants to go. But it doesn’t matter where he/she wants to go, now does it? One can definitely see the appeal of nihilism – if nothing matters you’ll inevitably suffer, this cannot be avoided because we’re all dealt some suffering in this life, but the perk of nihilism is you are excused of ever having to try to get better or make anything better. Why would you if it doesn’t matter? But the backlash after floating around the “nothing matters” swamp for a while starts showing itself – if nothing matters meaning deteriorates, cause and effect are irrelevant and instead of responsibility free bliss you’re left with pain that leads to nothing, and pain is bearable only if it FOR SOMETHING – if there is at least a chance of it serving as a collateral of sacrificing something to get to something else.

In the course of your lifetime you’ll easily meet a 1000 people. If your career is especially people oriented it may very well be much more. Presumably all of the people you meet then meet 1000 of their own, and then those a 1000 of their own. This will effectively put you two persons apart form a billion. A billion! Just let that sink in. How can you then claim nothing matters? Contrary to the staggering pressure and almost paranoia inducing unbearable responsibility that the butterfly effect would suggest, not all things you do may matter to anyone but yourself, but those things that are shared with other human beings matter. It may not be globally important if you had a bad morning, but what we do collectively matters (and coming full circle (we love to come full circle) what we do publicly (if honest and wholehearted) is a direct reflection of a person we’ve built ourselves into privately). One shared idea might result in a avalanche 5 years from now when it reaches enough ears and minds, showing some kindness to the woman at the bakery might result in her not making some bad choices that day, being there for someone might save their life and they might go on to make great things…

So no, not everything matters to everyone but everything holds responsibility (either personal, public or both). You leave the bottom feeding cowardice of helpless bleakness of existence to the nihilists. Try to help them if you can, but make sure you don’t get sucked in into their martyrdom. Misery loves company… or you can just tell them it doesn’t matter anyway.