The small things that matter

 

Wednesday, September 26, 2013

 

 

Some days, all I can feel is sad.

It’s not a matter of weather or what has happened in the day, but some other thing – perhaps an accumulation of world or even local events that make the day tougher.

I’m not even talking about international terrorists or the grid lock in congress, or even the grid lock in NYC streets due to the UN insanity.

The biggest struggle is the every day struggle ordinary people face.

Going back to places like Secaucus where I see faces I haven’t seen in years I see this struggle in their faces, as they must seen mine on my face.

Yesterday between meetings, I took some pictures of the military monuments outside Secaucus town hall when a cop pulled up and grinned at me.

I hadn’t seen him in a decade, but knew him from Facebook, and he thanked me for posting a photo of him I had taken in the near by park, one I had taken ten years earlier.

It wasn’t a great photo because I was using a terrible camera, and I was shooting into the sun.

He was greeting two very small African American kids.

He didn’t even know I was taking a picture. He didn’t even know anyone was looking.

It was one of those magical moments in life where I just happened to look at him doing what he naturally did, and caught it.

“A lot of people comment about that photo,” he said, slapping me on the shoulder as he headed into the police station and I headed into the meeting.

Sometimes, magic is more important than logic, and sometimes, our role in life isn’t to make great changes, but to document the small changes people like this cop make.

And I guess, waking up this morning, I realized I need to do more of that, preserving magical moments for the ordinary people, and let the world spin on its wobbly axis in events I am too small to deal with anyway.