The great Russian author Leo Tolstoy once wrote, “How good is it to remember one’s insignificance: that of a man among billions of men, of an animal amid billions of animals; and one’s abode, the earth, a little grain of sand in comparison with Sirius and others, and one’s life span in comparison with billions on billions of ages. There is only one significance, you are a worker. The assignment is inscribed in your reason and heart and expressed clearly and comprehensibly by the best among the beings similar to you. The reward for doing the assignment is immediately within you. But what the significance of the assignment is or of its completion, that you are not given to know, nor do you need to know it. It is good enough as it is. What else could you desire?”
What I take out of that quote is that the true measure of our significance is not determined by the big tasks we tackle, but rather by the seemingly less important tasks we encounter and embrace in our everyday lives. The following story underscores this point:
The day when the jobs were handed out was one of the most exciting for all of the children in the class. It took place during the first week of the term. On that day, every boy and girl was given a job for which they would be responsible for the rest of the school year.
As with everything, some jobs were more interesting than others and the children, being no different from anyone else, were eager and hoping to get the best work assignments. When giving them out, the teacher took into account which pupils had been the most responsible during the previous year, and those children were the ones who looked most forward to this day. Among them Rita stood out. She was a kind and quiet girl and, during the previous year, she had performed her task and carried out her responsibility with near perfection. All of the children knew that Rita was the favorite to be given the best job of all – looking after the class dog.
But this year Rita was in for a BIG surprise. As in the past, each child received one of the normal jobs, like preparing the books or the radio for lessons, telling the time, cleaning the blackboard, or looking after one of the class pets. But Rita’s job was very different than anything the class had heretofore been entrusted with. She was given a little box containing some sand and one ant. And even though the teacher insisted that this ant was a very special ant, Rita could not help but feel disappointed. Most of her classmates also felt sorry for her. They sympathized with her disenchantment, and began to whisper about how unfair it was that Rita had been given the minor responsibility of looking out for an ant! Even Rita’s father, upon learning of Rita’s job, became very angry with the teacher and encouraged Rita to pay no attention to this insignificant pet. But Rita, who liked her teacher very much, decided that she would rather show the teacher her error by doing something special with this job of such little interest and seemingly of no importance.
“I will turn this little task into something great.” Rita committed to herself.
So it was that Rita started investigating all about her little ant. She learned about the many different species of ants and studied everything about their habits and behavior. She modified the little box to make it a perfect environment for the ant. She gave the ant the very best food, and it ended up growing quite a bit larger than anyone in the class, including the teacher, had expected.
One day in the spring, there came a knock on the classroom door. As the teacher opened the door, the class noted there was a man standing there. They did not recognize him as any member of the faculty, but, nonetheless he looked rather important. The teacher welcomed the man in and then turning to the class, said with great joy and enthusiasm, “This is Doctor Martinez. He has come to our class to give us a wonderful piece of news, isn’t that right, Dr. Martinez?”
“Precisely,” replied the doctor. “Today your school has published the results of your job competition, and this class has been chosen as the winners. What’s more, I am here to announce that this summer your class will accompany me on a journey to a tropical rainforest where we will be investigating all kinds of insects. Among all the schools of this region, without a doubt, it is your class who has best cared for the delicate little ant entrusted to your care. Congratulations! I know that you will be excellent assistants.”
That day the school was filled with joy and celebration. Everyone congratulated the teacher for thinking of entering them in the competition, and they also thanked Rita for having been so patient and responsible. And so it was that the children learned a valuable life lesson – that to be given the most important tasks you have to know how to be responsible even in what are apparently the smallest of tasks. And, without a doubt, it was Rita who was most proud, having taken a seemingly insignificant assignment and by committing herself completely to it, achieved a significant result.
Rita’s vow should resonate with all of us as we journey through what we often perceive to be the throwaway aspects of our lives in our search for the significant – “I will turn this little job into something really great!”
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Van Gogh
Have an awe-full weekend!
William J. “Bill” Bacque’