Little Things

Somebody won the mega millions lottery. For $1.3 Billion. That’s a B for billion. They bought the ticket in Maine, first time a major winner in the lottery won in Maine. Of course this is big for Maine, but also for the family that won the big bucks.

We notice these things. They are big. Like getting a cancer diagnosis, or years later, a cancer-free diagnosis. These are life and death things that cannot go unnoticed. But what about the other things, the little ones?

I know I think about such things. So do you. Most of us do. And why is that? Because in the main that is what our lives are built around – the little things, not the big.

Getting married, having kids, buying the first house, that sort of thing, those are big to us in our lives, but to others those are the happenings of life. Everyone experiences these events, or nearly everyone. That’s what makes them little things. To us they are big, to others they are not.

Other little things are the cocoon of weather, or climate. I live in a four-season zone. We have a decided winter. Also a decided summer. Spring and fall are in-betweener seasons, some are markedly so, many times they are barely noticed. Just bridges of time between winter and summer.

Living in this climate zone does anneal a person to many tiny things we do not notice. Meld with others from different climate zones and differences are more notable. Some people shun the cold and refuse to travel where temps dip below 50 or freezing. Some love snow and avoid areas that regularly do not experience snow. These are four season people. Somehow, they know how time is compartmentalized in their lives and others and make them alike in many ways. Those who do not know the four seasons are somehow lacking.

Oh, some of you will be saying, he’s nuts, that can’t be true. But others of you will say no, he’s right. The differences may be subtle but they are there just the same.

See? I was right. These little things matter. They are formative in subtle ways.

Like conserving natural resources such as clean air, soil and water. Our family grew up in southern California. We were trained incessantly on not wasting water. We learned to brush our teeth with the faucet off. On only to rinse the brush and mouth. Never did the water run while actually brushing. Those of you who were raised this way know instantly what I mean.

And those lessons morphed into saving time, multi-tasking, not littering, and care not to start a forest fire.

I know many will blanch at that last statement. But when you live in forested areas, you think about Smokey The Bear. He was like an uncle. You did just what Smokey told you to do. And our forested region remained safe.

Yes, the little things. Alone they are tiny. Seemingly insignificant. But taken together they are a clear presence in our lives. They do matter.

Just like each of us matter to others.

January 17, 2023



 

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