L I T T L E T H I N G S

 

L I T T L E   T H I N G S

            Little things are little in size but not in importance.  In fact, all big things are congregations of small things. A big house is a collection so many bricks.  An hour is a sum total of sixty minutes and a minute is an aggregate of sixty seconds and a second is a group of so many fractions of a second.

We cannot imagine about big things without imaging their small components.  Even our noses , whatever be their size, are combinations of numerous layers of skins. It means all big things are dependent upon their smallest possible particles. What does it mean then? We must not abhor little things.  On the contrary we must love them because without their existence big things cannot come into existence. 

According to Ecclesiasticus “He that despises small things, shall fall by little and little. “ And in the words of  Robert Smith, the English Clergy (1818-1895) , most of the critical things in life, which become the starting points of human destiny, are little things.

English Chemist, Sir  Humphrey Davy (1778-1829) makes a more striking statement when he says: Life is made up , not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve and secure comfort.    

                English poet Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889) makes us much wiser when he says: Despise not small things, either for evil or good, for a look may work thy ruin, or a word create thy wealth.---A spark is a little thing, yet it may kindle the world.

                Note unforgettably: A spark is a little thing, yet may kindle the world.

                Finally,  a short poem by American poet and author, Julia Abigail Fletcher (1823-1908). The title of her poem is:

                                                                LITTLE THINGS

 For which is best remembered till today. It was set to music and published in educational textbooks for more than half a century. It is an inspirational poem which inspires both young and old  to live every  minute  of one’s with great gusto. 

A humble minute ,says she,  is not a  humble  fraction of time. In its generative potentiality , it is  the begetter of  mighty ages and  endless eternity. Hence, we should spend it most vigorously and to the maximum benefit.

                The poem reads as follows:

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.

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17^th March 2022                                                                              G.R.Kanwal