From time to time I think about the impacts, positive or negative, that little things make. For example, the smallest bone in the body is the stirrup (or stapes). Without it, your hearing would be seriously impaired.
Here’s another little thing. The oil drain plug on an automobile is small relative to the car, but if you fail to tighten it the oil will drain out. Once the lubricant has drained out, your engine will overheat and blow up. The plug costs $10 or so. We know what new cars cost.
On the positive side, a smile or kind word can lift a fellow human’s spirit for a full day. And a tiny seed, given favorable conditions, can become a towering oak.
We tend to measure importance by size, price or visibility. Yet the smallest things sometimes carry the greatest consequences.
Perhaps that’s why we must pay closer attention to the little things, especially in our dealings with friends and loved one. They have a way of becoming big things, for better or worse, whether we notice them or not.
Reflections on Being Human
Half-Truths and Unwritten Books
So true, Jeff. Many years ago I was in the grips of a crippling depression. I had to file bankruptcy because I wasn’t getting enough work, could hardly get off the couch. I took a walk in the woods near my house in Abita Springs with my dog, Girl. On the way back, I stooped down to look at a single blade of St. Augustine grass. I felt its softness–an antidote to my hard, hard life–and began to sob. Such is the power of nature and of little things. Thanks for your post.
Hear, hear Ed Newman. Good thoughts!!