LIFE’S LESSONS
By Henrylito D. Tacio
“It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
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Today, we live in a world where everything seems to be larger than life. People don’t pay attention anymore to things that are trivial. Most people don’t say, “Thank you,” anymore. If you do, the recipient won’t reply, “You’re welcome.”
But are there really small things? “Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things – a chance word, a tap on the shoulder, or a penny dropped on a news stand – I am tempted to think… there are no little things,” Bruce Barton commented.
We think so, too. In 1776, one vote gave America the English language instead of German. In 1800, one vote in the Electoral College gave Thomas Jefferson the Presidency over Aaron Burr. In 1868, only one vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment. In 1876, one vote gave Rutherford D. Hayes the Presidency of the United States.
David used a small pebble to kill the giant named Goliath. Three simple words – “I love you” – can start a lifetime commitment. Only one fling can destroy a relationship. And, yes, it only takes a spark to start a fire. “Men trip not on mountains; they stumble on stones,” goes a Chinese saying.
Mehmet Murat Ildan also said, “Without water drops, there can be no oceans; without steps, there can be no stairs; without little things, there can be no big things!”
Great men and women from the past – such as Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa – changed the course of history by performing a series of little things.
Benjamin Franklin points out how important the little things are if we wish to reach our goals: “For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost; and for want of a horse. the rider was lost; being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail.”
Henri Frederic Amiel reminds, “What we call little things are merely the causes of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of departure which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence. One single black speck may be the beginning of a gangrene, of a storm, of a revolution.”
“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen,” John Wooden reminds.
Small sales
Laurie Beth Jones, author of The Power of Positive Prophecy, related her own story about a former boss who didn’t want her to spend so much time with clients. “Go after the big clients,” she was told. “Leave the peanuts to the others.”
But still she did what she wanted to do. “When the numbers were totaled,” she wrote, “my combination of small sales out totaled his few big ones.”
Jones resigned from her job and started her own company. “Dinosaurs became extinct, yet rabbits still abound,” she pointed out.
One little pin
Now, let me tell you a story that was featured in 365 Moments to Cherish by Robert Strand:
At age 21, Jacques Lafitte, a son of a very poor carpenter from a small city, set out to seek his fortune and future life’s work in Paris. He had no references from influential people, no brilliant academic career behind him, but he was young and full of hope.
With his usual thoroughness, he started looking for a job. Days became weeks, and still he had no job or income. But he kept at it. Nobody in Paris noticed this determined young man.
One morning, he applied at the office of a famous Swiss banker, Monsieur Perregaux. The banker asked him a few questions about himself. Then, he slowly shook his head and said there would be no job offered at the moment.
Sadly, and more discouraged than ever, Jacques left the bank and walked slowly across the courtyard. As he did so, he paused, stopped, and picked something up. Then, he continued into the busy street, wondering if perhaps it wasn’t time to return home. At about that moment, he was overtaken by a man who tapped him on the shoulder.
“Excuse me, sir,” he said, “I’m an employee at the bank. Monsieur Perregaux wishes to see you again.”
For the second time that morning, Jacques faced the famous banker. “Pardon me,” the banker said, “but I happened to be watching you as you crossed the courtyard of the bank. You stopped and picked something up. Would you mind telling me what it was?”
“Only this,” the young man replied, wonderingly, as he took a bright new straight pin from the underside of the lapel of his coat. “Aaah,” the banker exclaimed. “That changes everything. We always have room here for anyone who is careful about little things. You may start at once.”
As big as the big things
Sweat that small stuff! Julia A. Fletcher Carney wrote this short poem as a reminder: “Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land. Thus, the little minutes, humble though they be, make the mighty ages of eternity.”
Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr. said it well: “Everything matters. Let’s treat the so-called little things with importance just as we do the so-called big things. Because the little things have a way of being connected and interdependent in such a way as to often be just as big as the big things.” – ##
