Big Picture: Little Things

Today I want to share with you two stories, one from my personal life and the other, a story that touched my heart. I hope these stories give you something to think about during the week.

My youngest daughter is in 10th grade and is studying hard for her exams due later this month. A couple of days ago she came into my office, sat down next to me, and said, “History is very difficult for me. It’s full of names, some of which I have trouble pronouncing and remembering.” I thought about the days when I studied history and the problems I had with it. I remembered two events she had seen then and how they had helped me understand the story. The first was a ‘Sound and Light’ event in Delhi that brought to light all the historical facts that are part of our heritage; and the other was the film ‘Gandhi’.

So I said to my daughter, “Let’s watch this movie together. I think it will give you a context for the story.” We sat together and spent 3 hours watching Richard Attenborough’s classic film ‘Gandhi’. And while we were watching it, she suddenly exclaimed her “Ah! That makes sense. This is what I studied.” As the movie progressed, there were similar exclamations coming from her. At the end of the movie, she was excited to find context for some of the things she was studying. As I watched her walk to pick up her books of history with a renewed sense of energy, I thought, how important it is for us to have a context for what we do. Sometimes we can get so myopic in our thinking, or get so deep into detail with the things we’re doing, that we forget to that there is a bigger picture that can help us understand what we are doing, why we are doing it, and why it is important.

I remember a teacher admonishing me about preparing speeches. He said: “Be careful with your research, because when you do research, you tend to dig deeper and deeper, looking at different facts until finally you’re left with a bunch of little things. Those little things are the ones that should contribute to the bigger one.” mosaic or larger picture you are looking at. Otherwise, they become insignificant and have no meaning.”

My daughter made that point last week when she brought me her history problem. It is vital to be able to understand the context regarding our work, or work, which is only one area of ​​our life, has the potential to consume too many hours of the day, without contributing to our life as a whole. . We need to ask ourselves, “Why am I doing the things I’m doing? What good is it for me? How does it fit into the bigger picture of my family, my children or my parents, the important people in my life? What does my job mean? in the larger context of my life?”

The second thought that I wanted to put in your minds has to do again with the context, but without forgetting some of the smaller details of our lives. I want to share with you a story written by Robert Fulghum in his book ‘He was on fire when I lay on him’.

Talking about the moment her little girl brought her her lunch pack, Fulghum says: “By the time she reached school age, she became an enthusiastic participant in preparing morning lunches for herself, her siblings and me. Every bag received a portion of sandwiches, milk, apples, money and sometimes a note or a treat One morning Molly handed me 2 bags as I was about to leave – one regular bag and one with tape, staples and paper clips “.

“Why two bags?”

“The other is something else.”

“What’s in there?”

“Just a few things, take them with you.”

“Not wanting to take the matter to court, I stuffed both bags into my briefcase, kissed the girl, and ran out. At noon, while hastily consuming my real lunch, I opened Molly’s bag and shook out the contents: 2 headbands, 3 small rocks, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny shell, 2 animal crackers, a marble, a used lipstick, a small doll, 2 chocolate kisses, and 13 cents.

“I smiled. How lovely. Getting up to rush to the more important business of the afternoon, I tossed the desk into the trash can: lunch leftovers, Molly’s trash and all. There was nothing in there I needed.”

“But that night, Molly came to stand next to me while I was reading the paper.”

‘Where is my bag?’

“What bag?”

“You know, the one I gave you this morning.”

“I left it at the office. Why?”

“I forgot to put this note on it.” She hands over the note. Besides, I want him back.

“Because?”

“Those are my things in the bag, the ones I really like. I thought you’d like to play with them, but now I want them back. You didn’t lose the bag, did you, Dad?” Tears filled her eyes.

“Oh no! I forgot to bring it home.”

“Bring it tomorrow, okay?”

“Of course, do not worry about it”.

As she hugged my neck in relief, I unfolded the note that hadn’t gone into the sack and it said, “I love you daddy.”

“Oh” and also “Uh-oh”.

I took a long look at my son’s face. She was right. What was in that sack was something else. Molly had given me her treasures, everything a 7-year-old girl appreciated. ‘Love in a paper bag’ and she had missed it. Not only did I miss it, but I threw it in the trash because there was nothing in there that I needed. Dear God! It was the first and last time I felt like my ‘daddy’s leave’ was about to run out. It was a long drive back to the office, but there was nothing else to do. That’s how I went, the pilgrimage of a penitent. Directly in front of the concierge, I picked up the trash can and emptied the contents onto my desk. After removing the mustard from the dinosaur and dousing everything with air freshener to get rid of the onion smell, I carefully flattened the brown paper ball into a semi-functional bag, put the treasure inside, and took it all home.

The next night I gave the bag to Molly, no questions asked, no explanations. The bag didn’t look very good, but all the things were there, and that was what she was counting on.

To my surprise, Molly gave me the bag several days later; The same tattered bag, the same things inside. I felt forgiven and trusted and loved and a little more comfortable using the title ‘Father’. For several months, the bag accompanied me from time to time. It was never clear why I did or didn’t get it on any particular day. I started thinking of it as a ‘Dad Award’ and tried to be good the next morning so I could get it.”

Time passed for this man and Molly turned to other things. But she never forgot the paper bag that she almost lost.

While reading that story, I thought to myself that there are precious moments like this that we can miss; wonderful words pronounced by our children, little notes that enter us. Or words spoken by our spouses, our parents, loved ones, little things done for us that in the hustle and bustle of our day, we miss.

I tried to put these thoughts together in my mind. What am I communicating to you? On the one hand there is the context, without forgetting the big picture because it gives us a point of reference for life and how important life is. On the other hand, there are some of the smaller things that can add so much importance to our lives, like children.

The Bible says in Psalm 127: 3-5: “Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift; the fruit of the womb his generous legacy. Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows are the children of our vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents with your trembling children.”

How true. Let’s not miss those beautiful significant moments of our lives, becoming myopic, caught up in things forgetting the context. And the context is the quality of life that we must have, that we must give to our spouses, to our children, to our families and to all the rest of the people who love us very much.

So my friends, just a thought for you to think about. What is the big picture for you and what are those little details that we can sometimes overlook when we are too busy doing the things that we do from 9 to 5 or 9 to 7 or even 9 to 9?

God bless you all.