Little Things

Recently at Distinguished Young Women, I had the opportunity to present a speech about the little things in life - the things that tend to get overlooked because of size or because of apparent "importance" (or non) in our society.

To me the little things in my life have always been the most important. Rather than the big events or the grandiose, I've remembered and cherished the brief, subtle moments that we would otherwise shrug off as nothing too significant in our lives. But these little moments are what accumulate to make up the day of the event with the bright shining lights or the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and these passing times are what truly define us as who we are.

As I grow to become closer to people, I rarely remember the "things that I should": I remember the brief acts of kindness that they performed or the sincere thank you they gave in the midst of their stress and their tiring circumstances. These little moments, the passing thoughts, and the last minute decisions are what mirror the genuine personality and the unaltered, unmasked thoughts of a person, and that is what I remember and hold dear to my heart. It takes great sincerity and dedication to be able to live every moment taking care of others and being able to demonstrate benevolence at every turn.

Not only with other people, but the little things matter to me in my own life as well because I see myself and my true intentions in the littlest, most intimate moments. The split second decision I make shows so much more about me compared to the grand acts that I perform every so often. There are so many times when I surprise myself because I wonder how I could have possibly thought of that or have experienced something, and I realize eventually that it is the accumulation of such seemingly insignificant moments that build me into the highly complicated person I am today.

The littlest things hurt. The shortest phrase can cut the deepest of wounds and speaking without thought after a moment's notice can cause the most scarred of memories. I can't count how many times I've been cut by small words, by allegedly harmless sentences, and by slight changes in intonation because these not hesitated, not filtered thoughts are what reveal the opinion that they hold of me.

Maybe I'm too jaded and maybe I'm not looking at the big picture enough because I've decided to focus too much on the "too little" things. But why shouldn't we think more about the aspects of our lives too often disregarded?

Why do we need to focus on the bolded portions on our lives when the simply italicized parts make up the majority of the story?