Don't be a just guy.
"Oh I get it, you’re a just guy."
Its that time of year when all the feel good shows are on. The above line came from something with magic emporium in the title.
I was just passing through the room when the line was said but it stop me in my tracks because I totally understood what was being said. The actress went on to tell the other character that when they see a tree, that is it just a tree, or just a - fill in the blank -, and they were seeing just a shop.
EXACTLY! I thought. That’s it! Most of my adult life and especially recently I have been struck by the lack of passion in people. These, what I will openly admit, silly little conversations, disagreements, arguments ( I would imagine the word you choose there would depend on what side of the “conversation” you were on) have been coming up over what could be seen as the smallest of things. Where to eat, where to put something, what color to pick, where to go, etc.
Someone recently said to me, “Why does it matter?” All I could think is why does it not matter? Why do it if it does not matter? And recently all I can think is, “make it matter!”
I get it, I do, that not every little thing can be made into a big deal but why not at least try. I have come to realize that the place, the color, the food, etc is not what bugs me about the other person lack of choice what strikes me is that is does not matter to them. There is a lack of passion, a lack of conviction. I get it, I do, that people can live without passion about everything little thing but all I can think is why? Sure is it just lunch, just a color, just a place but WHY, why does it have to be?! Why can’t we make it matter! Live with purpose, Live with passion… live!
Recently I was on a 6 hour road trip and it only made sense that somewhere along the way there would be a stop for lunch. The old me, most people, would have just stop at wherever was convenient whenever the time came up but WHY live that way? I took 10 minutes and found a local place along the way that served a spicy chicken with pimento cheese served on a freshly made biscuit. I mean, c’mon. So I set that as my destination. I made the lunch itself matter. I made the lunch matter. I made the food matter. I made the journey matter.
Make it matter!
“The old me”, I think its important to admit, that yes I use to be the same way but I (what I refer to as) woke up. I believed we have been domesticated to just go with the flow, not make things a big deal, not be too big, sit down and shut up. But I am better than that, I am bigger than that. And make no mistake I am not more special than anyone, we are all bigger than that.
I sense that most people do not pick out of fear that the decision won’t be worth it, or it will suck, or it will fail. So what! So you took a chance on something that matters instead of settling on the common, the mundane. Just trying to make it matter is a success. Live, learn, love.
I read once that when people say it does not matter, they are saying, “I do not matter.” That is how I feel to me when people say it doesn’t matter, they feel small, the feel absent from the experience, from the moment. Like it is me dragging them to the event, the choice, through life. I want them to be there. But I get it, or at least I am starting to, it is not my place to make things matter to them. It either does or it does not. Let those who want to sleep stay asleep because it will likely just lead to… “silly conversations" if you do not.
“Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things.” ~ Bruce Barton