Incredible shrinkage

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going"

"Everything happens for a reason"

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"

"Tough times don't last, tough people do"

"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger"

"When one door closes, another is shoved up your ass (or however that goes)"

I'm sure these platitudes among others occurred to The Incredible Shrinking Man as he was fighting off cats and birds and spiders and microbes trying to kill him. I'll bet at some point they stopped being much of a comfort as he overcame these challenges but just kept shrinking and shrinking until he presumably disappeared. The movie doesn't say. It leaves it to the viewer to wonder just how insignificant a person can become, how little they can matter, and still be considered a human being. The fact that someone could simply cease to exist tomorrow without creating as much as a ripple in The Big Pond would give someone a sense of freedom if it weren't for wondering if it's already happened.