Join In
In the end, it may be the little things that make the difference. While we were distracted by the major issues of life–the big ticket items of careers and relationships, the things we accomplished, the hurts we endured– it may be the small things that slipped by unnoticed that changed another life for the better. We do not need to be in the spotlight to bring light into another person’s world. We do not need to be onstage to play our part in the drama of life and love. We need to be only who we are, as loving and kind as we can, for blessings to flow through us into another heart, unknown but forever grateful.
—The Small Things by Steven Charleston
To be of Use
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
— Marge Piercy