Dickinson measures a life against the possibility of easing one heart. The scale is striking. She does not ask whether we changed the world; she asks whether another living thing suffered a little less because we were here. That does not make a meaningful life small. It makes meaning immediate. We can spend years looking for the work that will matter and miss the quieter ways mattering is already available to us. Sometimes purpose enters through the relief we are able to offer. What kind of relief are you able to offer someone?