But much of life is made of small, modest pleasures (tasty mints, starry nights) and tiny tragedies (an errant comment, an uncomfortable shoe).
But on Thursday morning, as she fought through the futility of swiping her Metrocard, she revealed herself to be a mere mortal a woman struggling through the same tiny tragedies that befall all of us who have ridden and will continue to ride the New York City subway system.
"There was a moment when nobody came to me with their tiny tragedies, sure," she narrows her eyes, "but their stories are how I made the record.
These are just three tiny tragedies from my short, two-year New York City dating life.
A tiny, tireless woman reinforced by tragedy, she epitomizes the persuasive power of oral history, and the film uses her to frame a remarkable collection of declassified films and photographs.
If anything, I was simply exposed to a tiny snapshot of the history, tragedy, desperation, opportunity, resiliency, and now hope, of the First Nations people in Ontario.
This idea of a tiny, personal kingdom keeps the play a properly humble tragedy rather than a grand one; it isn't "King Lear," after all.
As he makes his way through the world, he keeps a tiny Carel Fabritius painting stolen from the site of the tragedy with him.
In the face of this tragedy, it would be the very least they could do, a tiny start toward repairing the damage they've caused.
