It's the Little Things

As an amateur farmer, I have taken enough time to marvel at how a tiny seed, encased in a hard shell, will sprout and grow when exposed to water and warmth. How that tiny capsule contains everything needed, waiting to spring forth and push up through the earth as a new form of life, a plant.

The same holds true for a butterfly and cocoon. A seemingly lifeless pod producing one of the most beautiful marvels of nature...a butterfly. Hidden from view until finally, it appears in magnificent glory, to spread its wings and fly with grace into the air.

A little closer to home, as in our carport, every year a Carolina wren raises a brood of baby birds here. She lays those teeny, tiny eggs and patiently sits on them. Warming the shells with her soft down and feeling the signs of life below her as the embryos grow into chicks. Finally, they hatch and emerge as skinny, bare-skinned babies with tiny tufts of down. Yesterday, three took flight from the security of their nest, following their mother's lead and flying off to a thick brushy area in our backyard. It always makes my heart beat a little faster when I see this happen. No matter how insane the world has become.

Small things...small life grows to the influences that shape it.

Our surroundings shaped each of us as we grew into adulthood. If we heard ignorance and hate, we'd more than likely grow up spouting the same. The fear would be put into their minds. Fear of indifference...fear of growth. And like the plant which has been fed toxins, the yeild in terms of ability to feel compassion, love empathy and understanding will all be damaged. The human chance for growth diminished.

It doesn't end with our parents. Theses repeated influences like movies and music also shape who we are. If all you see is violence and hate when you are growing, you will most certainly enact it later in your life.

The little things make such a difference in our lives. Sometimes just a warm compliment will make what starts off as a lousy day, turn in a complete about face. Just watching that little wren and her fledglings leave the next, or becoming amazed at another glorious sunrise.

Think about all those seemingly small decisions you have made in your life: A blind date which you thought would never amount to anything other than this one time, ending up being a lifetime of love, a visit to see a loved one when it was truly inconvenient, but realizing a day later they had died during the night, going on a job interview with a second choice company, only to find out it will be your career.

Alone, each of us feels very small…at least, I do. Yet, when we work together as one, we become part of a very strong collective…not the Borg, but a unified, free-thinking, powerful, energy-producing entity. Like the twines of thread which can be broken when alone, yet resilient with multiple layers, we are strong as a unit. When I see the insanity happening in Washington, the freak show that alarms us all with greedy billionaires grabbing up our rights and our country before our eyes, I think about all the scenarios I have mentioned in this post. How small can be strong.

We gave them the power they now flaunt. We bought their products and made them rich. We fed the entity which now has grown large and powerful. Yet, all we have to do is stop feeding it. Turn off the dollars. Stop buying from them. And like a weed not being watered, they will dry up and disappear. But, if only a few of us do this it won’t help. If we make a jab and then go on using their products a week later, it won’t help. We ALL have to act. We may feel small when we are alone, but with our numbers we can take their billions and turn off the flow.