HOW IMPORTANT ARE LITTLE THINGS?

It was another blissful day, or so he thought, the weather showing signs that it would be clement. Everything was set for work.

He decided as usual to stop over on his way to the office, which was close by, for a cup of hot coffee and a glimpse at the morning newspaper headlines. While using the zebra crossing to get across the road, he saw something that caught his attention. “Who could’ve possibly left a nail like this here? Stupid people! Let’s hope the street sweepers will see it and clean it up.” He thought to himself.

He had settled down with his coffee, when he heard an explosion, followed by the screeching of vehicle wheels, it seemed to be getting closer… or maybe not. All was silent. He could not see anything around him. He heard someone calling out to another “Call 911!” He could feel the wetness of his body but could not recall who threw water on him. From how he saw it, his supposedly water-soaked clothes were the least of his worries; he can easily head home and get them changed. His problem really was that he could not feel his legs, and he needs them, in order to get home to change.

He heard the sound of an approaching ambulance, he heard it stop. He heard some people saying “lift, lift… oh God, they’re two…” “This one is still breathing” someone said pointing at his direction. “What? Me?” he thought. Then it dawned on him... He saw and heard nothing else.

What really happened, according to eye witnesses was that a vehicle’s tire was punctured by something, a nail and it exploded causing the driver to lose control and crash into the café, killing two people and injuring one person.

Luckily for my friend, he survived or at least most of ‘him’. He sustained spinal injury in the accident and lost the use of his lower limbs – his legs. Two other customers in that same accident were not as lucky.

How important are the little things we do and the ones we overlook? Certainly, my friend would not have lost the use of his legs, if he had simply picked that nail he saw on the road.

Some of us may not be as lucky as he was. Some of us may not have a second chance like he had. In fact, most people that overlook these ‘little’ things do not get second chances. “I don’t need to fasten my seat belt; the place is just around the corner” and thoughts like that.

Since people began to overlook little things, big things began to look little. Taking caution signs for granted can be tragic. Taking little things for granted can be disastrous. It came to my realization that little things matter much the day I had the opportunity to pass through Nanka in Anambra state. The massive nature of the gully there is one thing that I can never forget in my life. It dawned on me then and there, that the gully I saw started as a pitting, then transformed to a hole, from a hole to a gutter, from a gutter to a gully, and from a gully to a massive gully, which now requires billions of naira for its control and had swallowed properties worth millions and had also taken lives, what a tragedy.

Had that gully been controlled when it was just a hole or a gutter, which would have cost just a few hundred thousand naira, I am certain that billions of naira would not be required in controlling it and that no property or live would be lost to it. How important are little things?

So my dear, pay attention, Pay good attention to little things. Pay attention to caution signs. Pay attention to any ‘random’ event. Pay attention to every pin out of place. Pay attention to every piece of information. Pay attention to your education. Pay close attention to life and every little thing.