Little Things

I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind. - Leo Buscaglia

A few days ago, I stepped on a piece of glass. It was a very tiny piece that I couldn't see from my awkward position and with my old eyes. I asked a couple of people to look and see if there was glass in my foot but both said they didn't see anything. By the next day my foot was throbbing and walking seemed impossible so I soaked my foot, steralized a needle and tasked Jacob with finding the glass and digging it out. After about ten minutes he removed a miniscule piece of glass. Such a little thing caused such a big pain.

As I tend to live in my head, I started thinking about the glass in my foot as a metaphor for the rest of life. I was speaking to a friend who days later was still reeling from a small barb that had been sent his way as a supposed joke a few days before by his friend. Those of us that know and love him are already aware that he has a thin skin and is hypersensitive. His friend should have known better but even then, it was such a small comment that it is amazing to see how derailed he was by it.

On the flip side I can recall many times when my day has been made by little acts of kindness - someone letting me into traffic when it was hard to merge; a compliment from the lady who was cleaning the tables in the takeout section of Whole Foods last week; a comment from my son about what a great mom I am. In truth, that last one made my month. As those little things meant so much to me, I'm going to try in earnest to do more little things to brighten the lives of other people.

Oprah has a "thank you" game going right now. The object of the game is to say thank you to someone who has helped you in whatever the prescribed way is for that day. One day last week the object was to say thank you to someone who had helped you to be courageous. I wrote a few words of thanks to my friend Gail. Judging from her reaction, it made her day. Such a little thing. Such a big result.