Look

 If you do not acknowledge someone, are they there? Can you remember the feeling of being ignored? Can you recollect the sensation of almost being violated when they looked right through you? Beyond you? When you tentatively raised your opinion in the conversation no one noticed. How did that feel?

Walking past a homeless person with an outstretched arm on the street poses the same conundrum. Do they exist? Do they matter? Do they feel violated? Or are they so used to being invisible that they no longer feel the pang of not being there?
Isn’t this the underlying basis of the philosophical question, "if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it really fall?’ Perhaps the question ought to be re-phrased as, "if a tree falls in the forest and no hears it, does the life of the tree matter?" Is the fact that it has fallen of any consequence? Of course it matters to the creatures of the forest. Some animals will lose their home while others will find one in the shelter of the bark. Some will die and some will live. New growth will replace the old. Perhaps the tree destroyed a berry bush beneath it. It will no feed the weary traveler in the future. Aren’t these good reasons to believe that a single fallen tree can make a big difference? Yet, if humans are the sole determinant of reality then a tree falling out of human view makes no difference. 
The Torah states, "You are My witnesses." Midrash interprets the statement by God as meaning, "If you are My witnesses then I am God. And if you are not My witnesses, I am not God." 
The midrash is trying to tell us is that while we do not determine the reality of whether a tree has actually fallen or not, we do determine our personal reality.
We can choose to live with or without God. Our mind will decide whether to view other people as God’s other children or mere objects to toy with. We can view nature as an annoyance or the first part of God’s creation. We determine our own joy or despair. 
God continually whispers to us to choose Him. Listen.
 
 
 
Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani quoted Rabbi Shimon:
Moses was directed by the Holy One, blessed be He, to build the Tabernacle, the Ark and the sacred vessels. Moses turned to Betzalel and told him to build the Ark, the sacred vessels and the Tabernacle.
Question: Why did Betzalel deliberately switch around the order of construction? 
Betzalel remarked: A man builds a house and only afterward places the vessels inside.
Interpretation: Betzalel changed Moses’ order because it was out of sequence.
Question: Who would have the temerity to contradict the master? What kind of a man was Betzalel that he would deliberately change what Moses had said?
Answer: A hero.
A hero is someone both listens and responds. They are alive and fully engaged.
When you speak with God today, speak from your heart. When conversing with peers use the lens of the Almighty to listen. Be attentive. Be awake.