Little Things

I recently read a couple of books about the Negro Leagues, Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend by Larry Tye and The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip through Buck O’Neil’s America by Joe Posnanski. Buck O’Neil was mentioned in the story about Satchel; however, he was the main piece in Soul. Satchel, likewise, was mentioned in Soul. Kudos to the author, Joe Posnanski, for making Buck come to life for me. When I finished it, I literally felt choked up. After further assessment, I felt angry. I highly recommend both books. I’d be curious to hear your feelings after reading them. Furthermore, to watch the man himself, please take a few minutes and watch Buck’s speech at the Hall of Fame. In fact, I ask that you do before you read on. It will make much more sense.

Now, also, there’s a wonderful talk by Andy Andrews on YouTube about the butterfly effect. I’d encourage you to watch it as well. Again, it’s just a few minutes. Andy manages to capture thoughts I’ve had for a long time in a way that only Andy can—thoughts about how we’re more connected than not. The guy is a gifted storyteller. On a side note and since I led with a  baseball story, if you ever get a chance, listen to “Baseball, Boys, and Bad Words” (here’s a small snippet from his website, but the story itself is about 15 minutes—truly worth it!).

I first learned about the butterfly effect probably in the 90s. I’ve always been interested in it. Simply put and in short, small changes can have great impact. I really love this idea! I truly believe it. In fact, I use it all the time for myself and for my clients, too. We can commit to small changes much easier than we can large ones.

So, let’s connect these two, seemingly dissimilar dots. If you watched Buck’s speech like I asked (and if you didn’t, please do), Buck talks about love. He actually sings about it, too. Getting everyone to join hands and sing together speaks to the kind of man he was. In the speech, he says he doesn’t hate anyone because God didn’t make ugly. He did say a person can choose to be ugly if s/he wants. God doesn’t make ugly, though.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. God knows the number of hairs on our heads (Luke 12:7). Part of the problem is we have become attached to the world. The culture here appears predominantly self-focused. We see outrage about everything from babies to whales to rights. We may disagree on lots of things; that’s okay, right?

Or is it? Sometimes, it seems like we have gotten to the point in which we can’t disagree. If we disagree, we have to hate.

That’s not true, though.

What Buck described is the action of love. Love is also a verb, you see. Works by themselves won’t get us anywhere. The Great Commandments tell us to love God and love others.

How we show that love can vary just as we do, which is a wonderful thing. We all have abilities and gifts to share to the world. Buck was differently gifted. Wow. So, I don’t see myself getting folks to join together and sing. But, I can treat people whom I come in contact with respect and dignity. I can try my best to make people feel warm and welcome. I can make connections with people who are different from me. Thank God for differences!

So, if each one of us does little things to show love, imagine the kind of world that would create. Those are little things we can do. Each little thing can make lasting, impactful waves that change the world.

While we can’t all be Buck and sing, “The greatest thing in all my life is loving you,” we can certainly love one another a lot better than we have been. What’s your little thing that you can do to make the world better?

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