The Little Things Part 2

"You know when you get old in life things get taken from you. That's, that's part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out that life is just a game of inches. The margin for error is so small. I mean, one half step too late or to early you don't quite make it. One half second too slow or too fast and you don't quite catch it.The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in ever break of the game every minute, every second. On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us to pieces for that inch.We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch. Cause we know when we add up all those inches that's going to make the fucking difference between winning and losing between living and dying." 

- Al Picino in Any Given Sunday 

Mishlei- Chapter 24 Verses 30-34

ל. עַל שְׂדֵה אִישׁ עָצֵל עָבַרְתִּי וְעַל כֶּרֶם אָדָם חֲסַר לֵב:

לא. וְהִנֵּה עָלָה כֻלּוֹ קִמְּשׁוֹנִים כָּסּוּ פָנָיו חֲרֻלִּים וְגֶדֶר אֲבָנָיו נֶהֱרָסָה:

לב. וָאֶחֱזֶה אָנֹכִי אָשִׁית לִבִּי רָאִיתִי לָקַחְתִּי מוּסָר:

לג. מְעַט שֵׁנוֹת מְעַט תְּנוּמוֹת מְעַט חִבֻּק יָדַיִם לִשְׁכָּב:

לד. וּבָא מִתְהַלֵּךְ רֵישֶׁךָ וּמַחְסֹרֶיךָ כְּאִישׁ מָגֵן:

30. By the fields of a lazy man, I passed and by the vineyard of a man without sense.

31. And behold, thistles had grown all over it; nettles had covered its surface, and its stone fence had been torn down.

32. And I, myself, saw; I applied my heart; I saw and learned a lesson.

33. Little sleep, little slumber, little clasping of the hands to lie down.

34. Then your poverty will come strolling and your wants like an armed man.


The lazy person didn't fail because he made some terrible mistake. There is no particular moment when we can point and say, "that's the decision that spelled his doom." The lazy person failed because he kept losing the small battles. 
It is easy to relate to his behavior. What does it matter if he fixes his stone fence, or cuts down the thistles today or tomorrow? But precisely because it is so easy to rationalize from doing the little things and because so often it is so painful to do them, the lazy person consistently avoids fighting the small battles. Eventually he becomes poor. 

We've all been there. 
And the most insidious part about the little things is that at any given moment they don't seem to matter. No particular inch is critical. Is the extra five minutes of work really going to make a difference? If not, why go through the pain? 

Most things in life are not determined by grand life changing activities. Usually, there is no moment that we can look at and say, that's the moment that shaped who we are. That only happens in fairy tales. Life is shaped by the small decisions we make every day. What we choose to think about or how we spend an hour.  The every day small battles that seem insignificant are the ones that will really determine the life we live. 
 Those decisions add up. In the end, it's the inches that make all the difference. 

I'll elaborate on this in future posts.