The Puzzle Pieces Of Life
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The Puzzle Pieces Of Life

How is it our actions on a day-by-day basis play into a world full of skyscrapers, thousands of businessmen and women bustling to and from work, and countries and people we may never touch or interact with in our lifetime?

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The Puzzle Pieces Of Life
Christina Ausley

I spent my life up until the second grade in a small town of Pennsylvania by the name of Landenberg. It’s an unincorporated community, where all I can really remember was going to the local pizza parlor for a basket of garlic knots, getting a little brown paper bag of 5-cent candy after church on Sundays, and hanging on the bar of a local ballet studio in my pink leotard.

After we moved to Louisville, I grew up in the small suburb of Prospect. Here, the population never exceeded 5,000 and the total area encompassed just four square miles.

Following graduation, I drove just over 400 miles to the small southern city of Tuscaloosa to pursue a degree at the University of Alabama. Though the campus is large, the city’s “downtown” stretches just a few miles and accumulates a variety of small local businesses, donut shops and barbecue bars.

I can admit without hesitation that my world for the past 20 years or so was relatively small, as was my awareness of it.

This past weekend, however, I found myself overlooking the city skyline of New York City.

Suddenly, my all too familiar small world became much, much larger.

The 5-cent tootsie rolls, the small stone home nestled along Langton Road in Landenberg, the sprigs of mint coating our little backyard, my tiny Polly Pockets and their tinier rubber shoes — all of it vanished.

One thing and one thing only came to mind: how in the world do my small daily actions play any kind of real significance in such a massive world?

Significance. It was a word all too familiar. A word that suddenly haunted me, a word that weighed heavily, a word that followed me. How am I, how is what I do,how is what we do, significant?

How is it our actions on a day by day basis play into a world full of skyscrapers, thousands of businessmen and women bustling to and from work, and countries and people we may never touch or interact with in our lifetime?

Basically what I’m saying is, why do the little things matter in such a big world?

In New York, a city where I could one day end up following journalism, I suddenly found myself questioning all the little articles and small stories I had written. Stories like that of little hidden gems, book shops and coffee nooks.

Perhaps this is a concern many of us, especially in our early twenties, seem to face. We question the significance of our majors and whether or not they’ll actually take us big places one day. We question whether our dreams are feasible, whether we’re capable, whether or not we’re actually making a difference.

After a weekend full of local restaurants, streetside strolls and a handful of bagels, I made my way back to Tuscaloosa and fumbled into my house somewhere around two in the morning, bags in hand. I glanced at my mail on the side table, slipped the envelope in between my teeth, and worked my way up the stairs to my bedroom. I dropped my bags, crawled into bed, and slid open my envelope.

I was greeted by a corgi. A corgi on the face of a card, of course. From the corgi’s mouth hung a sign with a simple “thank you.” After opening the card, a hand-written note read:

Christina,
Your article in the Crimson White was everything we could hope for and more. We’ve had new customers in who mentioned your article. Thank you so much, you were fun to work with and talk to. Please come back soon.
Thank you, the ladies of The Book Rack

And with that, the world became wonderfully small again.

At the end of the day, I force myself to believe people read magazines. I force myself to believe the little articles matter. I force myself to believe mankind cares about culture and travel and the anthropology of human societies beyond our own.

No matter the hurt done to me or the hurt done to others, I force myself to believe in the absolute highest potential of every individual I encounter. I oftentimes fall in love with the potential of an individual, rather than the individual themselves. Though this can oftentimes get me hurt when the people I support fall short, there’s nothing better than getting that one seed who exceeds your expectations and restores your faith in the capabilities of mankind despite the let downs.

One time, that’s all it takes. One person. One moment.

We’ll take part in a lot of small doings throughout our lives, and whether we realize it or not, these doings lead us to that one action or moment or person that changes everything.

You meet one person, and you end up spending the rest of your life with them. You take one course in college and end up changing your entire career plan. You apply for one job, and you spend your life doing what you love. You live with a roommate, and suddenly she’s your bridesmaid.

Believe in the small things, because one day, all of those small things, all of those little actions, all of the misshaped puzzle pieces will slide into place and the picture will become crystal clear.

Thunderstorms, Frank Sinatra on the record player at Christmas time, peaches from the farmer’s market, cabins covered in snow, red curry, Thai iced tea, Dad’s Sunday morning pancakes — these are all little things to many. Yet somehow, for me, these things give me peace of mind, they set me at ease, and for that, I think they’re pretty big.

The point is, we’ll find unexpected significance in even the tiniest of things and moments and actions in our lives. Maybe it takes a few hours to see, maybe days or years or even a lifetime. Nevertheless, the small things can and will accumulate into much, much more, given the right time.

Do not get swept up in the enormity of our world. It has been made and created to go beyond our dreams and capabilities so our potential remains limitless. Leave with the hope that the expansion of one person, the magnification of just one life, is indeed an act of worth in this world. Even if that’s your own.

Keep acting, keep loving, keep striving and keep believing, because the puzzle is in progress.

One day, you’ll receive your own corgi card, and everything will be worth it.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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