Just the Little Things

In my last post, I recounted how I got sidetracked while searching for a particular poem, and I ended up sharing some thought-provoking tidbits from a 1920s salesmanship paper instead. Well, today I am sharing that poem–before I get sidetracked and lured down yet another rabbit trail.

In much of life, it’s the things that we too often view as “little,” or insignificant, things that make a difference in our lives. That night light in the hallway that keeps you from breaking your neck when you get up for your midnight snack. A brief word of encouragement to a friend. A gentle but understanding touch on a friend’s arm when we do not know what to say. A small act of kindness done for someone with no thought of what we might get in return. Those are the types of things that often mean more than words can say to the recipients. This poem, attributed to someone named Grace Haines (among others, including the ubiquitous “Anonymous”), says it all.

Oh, it’s just the little homely things, The unobtrusive, friendly things, The “won’t-you-let-me-help-you” things That make our pathway light. And it’s just the jolly, joking things, The “never-mind-the-trouble” things The “laugh-with-me-it’s-funny” things That make the world seem bright. For all the countless famous things, The wondrous, record-breaking things, Those “never-can-be-equaled” things That all the papers cite, Are not like little human things, The everyday-encountered things, The “just-because-I-like-you” things That make us happy quite. So here’s to all the little things, The “done-and-then-forgotten” things, Those “oh-it’s-simply-nothing” things, That make life worth the fight.

Don’t despise the day of small things. What “little” things will you do for others today?

Copyright (c) 2017, Dennis L. Peterson

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