It’s the little things
that can change the world

Speaking of Religion
The Rev. Dr. Tim Griffin

Recently I have been struck by two television commercials.
In one — for a high-speed Internet service — a woman enters a workplace and greets a man who is waiting for a slow Internet connection. Because the waiting has angered him he responds rudely, in a mocking tone of voice. She responds to his insult by spilling the coffee of someone else. The coffee splashes onto a third person, who assaults someone else, and soon the entire office is fighting.
You get the idea. The office needs to subscribe to a high-speed service. And the subtext is that if the company had such a service, the office environment would improve.
(For those who are interested, I am pretty sure that this ad commits a logical fallacy called "denying the antecedent," but that’s not the point I want to focus on here.)
In the other advertisement — for an insurance company, I think — one person does an unsolicited kind act for another. This inspires a third person, who happened to be watching, to do a kind act for someone in need who they encounter, and so on. The claim of the ad is that the insurance company in question performs such good acts too, thereby making the world a better place for all of us.
(Of course, the analogy is weak because the insurance company acts as it does for a profit, but again, that’s beside my larger point.)
When taken together, these ads show us something about ourselves and our relationships to one another. The chaos that ensues after the unnecessarily rude act is not unlike the chaos that we often witness in the world around us. Someone fails to act as I would like, and in turn I lash out at someone else, who takes it out on someone else, etc.
And who knows where it ends?
While this example is on the level of individual interactions, imagine the impact when nations act in these ways. But of course we don’t have to imagine, do we? We witness it regularly on the news.
In contrast, we tend to respond positively when we are treated in a positive way, and so we are more likely to act positively to others in turn. This seems to be when we witness the kindness of others as well. There is something inspiring and uplifting about such demonstrations, that makes us wish to act likewise.
In addition, as philosophers since Aristotle have noted, we feel good when we treat others well, so there is a double bonus, if you will. We are made happy when we act kindly, and the recipient of our kindness is benefited as well.
The conclusion I draw from these reflections is that we are not separate individuals. Our lives touch and impact on others lives in many unexpected ways. And for this reason it is possible for each of us to change our world in small, though significant, ways simply by choosing to perform small acts of kindness for others.
This is the "way of spiritual childhood" or "the little way" advocated by the 19th-century saint, Therese of Liseux.
Therese’s "little way" involves undertaking small acts of kindness and ignoring the little stings and insults that often upset us. Therese insisted that God did not demand acts of spiritual heroism from one as insignificant as she. Instead she dedicated her life to her little way of performing small acts of kindness to make the world a better place. And in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, she urged that we can all do the same.
Is there any question that the world would be a better place were we all to commit to living out the little way for ourselves? So what is stopping us from doing so?
Perhaps I can make a suggestion. Each day, we could begin the day by forming the intention to perform small acts of kindness for others and to ignore the small insults and slights that we are sure to encounter.
Just small things — helping someone who needs a hand; allowing another who is clearly in a hurry ahead of us in the checkout line; permitting another motorist to move in ahead of us in traffic, etc. There are abundant opportunities if we just pay attention.
Will we resolve the world’s problems if we each commit to the little way every day? I doubt it, but then again, we will be making the world a better place.
It is our world after all. Shouldn’t we care for it?
I hope you will join me in this experiment. ••
Father Tim Griffin is priest-in-charge at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, at 1946 Welsh Road in Bustleton.