The "little things in life" that warm our hearts and restore our faith in humanity are the stories of baby animals rescued from storm drains, the patron ahead of you who pays for your coffee, and the tweens up the block who shovel for the elderly without expecting to be paid.
I love those stories. They do exactly what they are meant to do. When we say "it's the little things", it's because we see it, we accept it, we let it swell in our hearts, and our moods are lifted just enough to get back to work. I firmly believe that every news broadcast should be ended with a "happy" story. It would give us the strength to fight against the wrongs when we remember all is not entirely hopeless.
Be the change you want to see in the world. (By the way, there is no real evidence that Gandhi said this. This op-ed explains this and other misquotes.) Misquoted or not, it's a good start. I've watched parents try to teach their children by example. It's a long, long, LONG process. It's frustrating to the point of wanting to scream, "Just tell them what to do already!!!" Children are not little mind-readers--- except in some instances when they are like the family pet who suddenly knows it's time to go to the vet.
The idea of instructing by example rather than an issued statement of rule is a way to help a child's sense of what is and isn't acceptable grow without instilling fear. I'm willing to bet just about every parent would prefer their child cleans their room out of a sense of self-respect rather than threats of punishment. This doesn't always work. In fact, parents reading this may be hyperventilating from laughter by now. I get it. The concept is good. The concept works better with somethings than with others.
Observe your family of origin and then examine your own habits. You may be surprised to see just how many things you've unconsciously picked up simply from being exposed to them over and over. There are behaviors I have that definitely developed from threats and not adhering to 35-year-old rules beat into my head (and, sometimes, hiney) push me into anxiety attacks. The anxiety stops me in my tracks, the rule isn't followed, I get more anxious, and, finally, depression takes over. I repeat this until I can muster the strength to either do the thing or accept that it doesn't matter if the rule is followed because I'm no longer 7.
I also do things because I was taught on an unconscious level. They're little things, usually. For example, when I wash my hands in a public restroom and paper towels are available, I dry off the counter. I do not think I was ever instructed to do this, but I've seen it done so many times while growing up that I've unconsciously determined "this is the proper behavior in a public restroom". If someone is upset, I offer sweet treats even though my conscious mind is acutely aware that teaches to seek comfort from an outside source. (The scale makes me aware of this too.)
It's the little things we observe every day that seep into our unconscious and manifest in our behaviors, beliefs, and judgments of others. (Don't argue with me that you don't judge people. We all do it because we've determined some judgments, right or wrong, are socially acceptable.)
The little things that shape us are often witnessed in society and their messages are unintentional. The person/culture/company is more than likely unaware they are contributing to anything beyond their specific intent. A company wants an ad campaign that will sell their product. A cultural tradition is observed without examining its effects on the environment or another culture. A person insists that their child "give Aunt Edna" a kiss so that Aunt Edna's feelings aren't hurt.
I think I just heard a collective "huh?" from that last example.
It's the little things that teach us what is expected and those lessons are carried with us throughout our lives. Little, seemingly innocuous things: a pale, blonde, thin, woman dressed in white selling facial cleansers; the tattooed Latino drug dealer in that movie; the shoot first/ask later police drama; the hero whose interrogation techniques include torture and he saves the day.
It's these little things we see over and over that normalize specific scenarios. If you scramble to defend the examples above but gasp when a show/commercial/movie/book depicts a same-sex romance, ask yourself why.
Before I get back to giving Aunt Edna a kiss, here is a semi-related tangent from "the little things":
This is not about "everyone's offended about everything". Labels such as "outrage culture" diminish the importance of understanding how these little things set the tone for society. It is worth noting that bring attention to something that could contribute to a harmful perception is not always outrage. Outrage comes after numerous polite statements of "Hey. This is harmful and here is why." If you think people have been skipping the polite statement phase, look at the issue. Is it a variation of something else that's been said for years? Decades? Does it matter that Archaic Greeks wore their hair in dreadlocks when dreads are most associated with Black culture? It's good for trivia night, but that's about it. It is still cultural appropriation when specific parts of a culture are exalted while still discriminating against the culture as a whole. (For what it's worth, dreadlocks were first associated with ancient Indian and Egyptian cultures, so European dreads came after Asian and African dreads.)
Pointing something out as potentially problematic does not always mean you need to cease and swear off whatever it is. If a phrase, decoration, depiction, style, advert, artistic expression, [insert whatever I missed here*] is critizied as insensitive or harmful, try to understand why instead of automatically getting pissed off that someone else has an opinion. If you don't want to understand, then by all means, continue being disrespectful. I'm not responsible for you.
* and my apologies for missing something of importance to youLet's get back to kissing Aunt Edna. I've spent the last year examining how "little things" contribute to my own behaviors and have expanded to looking at its effects on society over the past few months. I read something on Twitter last week that struck a cord.
There is no doubt that November has been an impromptu Sexual Harassment and Assault Awareness month. Even if you are not a news junkie, some, if not all, of the stories have reached under whatever rock we've been trying to hide under. I'm not going to get into why survivors "wait so long" to come forward nor the victim-blaming bullshit I've been seeing. Those are other posts on their own, and I just don't have the strength for it right now.
I'd like to address the "well why did she let him" and it's cousin comment "I would have smacked him then and there". (Side note: I'm using she/him because using the gender-neutral they/them will get seriously confusing. Be assured that I know assault/harassment/abuse is experienced and committed by all genders and nonbinary people.)
The Twitter thread was regarding consent and who should be responsible for teaching it. I'm not going to post the whole thread--- if you're interested in reading more, scroll through his thread archive.
Read that last screenshot again. Have you ever thought of it that way before? While I've been consistently telling children who are ordered to hug or kiss me that it's ok if they don't want to, I never made the connection that Isaac did. There is not a parent that I know who tells their child to hug or kiss so-and-so with the intention of teaching them to participate in submissive behavior.
But.....
"Boys will be boys." "He's mean to you because he likes you." "That's just how is he." "Your clothing is distracting." "Don't be so sensitive." "Women are so emotional."
"I bought you a drink so I deserve a kiss."
We've been taught from an early age to let things go, to accept whatever excuse is used to dismiss our complaints. The training lasts into adulthood, and unless you've been in a specific situation, you can not say what you would do with absolute certainty. Stay quiet while the boss makes sexist jokes? Laugh off the "accidental" glide over your ass. Give the person who bought that drink a quick little peck because it might be the fastest way to appease them and get away?
Oh. So just don't force your girls to kiss Aunt Edna? Are the boys fine?
Hell no.
The boys absorb the other "little things". "Real men don't cry." "Man up!" "Be aggressive and go after what you want!" When you demand your boy should kiss Aunt Edna, he's still learning that his feelings are not valid. He's still learning that personal space and boundaries are arbitrary. It's the rest of their "training" that leads to adults who deserve a kiss because he spent money.
You put the person who was taught to let things slide with the person who was taught to be aggressive and get what they deserve? You get stories about being raped in a parking lot 30 years after the fact.
It's the little things.
The little things can lift your spirits for the moment.
The little things can also rip your life to pieces.
