People
The Little Things in Life
HARLEEN KAUR
I see myself as a fairly habitual and organized person.
I am fond of to-do lists. I make them multiple times a day, whether they’re in my planner, on post-it notes or on a notepad. The most satisfying is checking something off at the end of a long day, knowing that I put in my hard work and it paid off.
But a couple of weeks ago, I had an encounter that made me question my task-oriented nature.
Toward the beginning of Spring Break, a professor introduced me to a new initiative launched by LSA (University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts) and its associate dean, Philip J. Deloria.
The Power of 5, she told me, is a project launched to break students out of the competitive environment that we tend to have at the University. By passing out $5 bills in multiple large lecture halls and to faculty, LSA hoped to inspire a wave of giving across the college, and a whole new giving culture, too.
As she handed me $5, she told me to treat myself and then give to someone else in a similar manner.
To be honest, I was pretty taken aback. Multiple questions immediately began running through my head.
Wouldn’t it be awkward to just give someone $5?
Who should I give it to?
Should I explain why I’m giving it to them?
Then, my realization of these questions launched a whole different series of questions.
Why is it so hard for me to give back to someone? Is this really that far outside of my comfort zone? What kind of a person does that make me?
The day-to-day rigor and non-stop schedule of an undergrad can be taxing. It causes time to both slow down so that a one-hour lecture can seem dreadfully long, but also make a semester or year seem like it went by in the blink of an eye.
Something that I allowed to slip through the cracks during all of this is how I interact with others. Between running from class to class and hiding out in Hatcher for hours on end, I stopped looking out for my fellow Wolverines. Student orgs became tiring and classes were a chore. Even my wonderful job as an RA had turned into checking off interactions with my residents, even though they were always more than willing to engage in conversation and hang out.
I didn’t give away my $5 until this past Monday.
As I sat in my room, chatting with a good friend, I saw the envelope sitting on my desk. I picked it up, flipped open the envelope to peek at the bill one more time -- as if to make sure that it didn’t magically give itself away -- and then launched into a long explanation about what I was doing.
As I saw the grin spread across my friend’s face, I realized that it was quite simple. By taking a few minutes to spread this message of giving, I had possibly brightened up her day.
Not even 10 minutes later, I saw her passing on $5 to another friend of ours. Already, the message was spreading. It was contagious.
The Power of 5 was a good wakeup call for me.
I realized that not everything I do should be on my to-do list or scheduled into my Google calendar weeks in advance. Oftentimes, it’s the unplanned moments -- coffee with a friend, running into an old professor on the Diag or going to see a movie on a Tuesday night -- that make your undergrad experience.
I’m sure years down the road I won’t be reminiscing about how I finished a 10-page paper a few days early or how great it felt to power through a difficult reading. Rather, I’ll remember these special moments that I share in passing.
One of my favorite childhood characters, Winnie the Pooh, said, “Sometimes, the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”
Cheesy or not, these past few weeks I remembered to appreciate the smaller things, because they often slip by before you can enjoy them.
So, I challenge you, next time you’re walking through to class, or sitting down next to someone new in lecture, say hello, smile, introduce yourself.
You never know the change you might start.
[Courtesy: Michigan Daily. Edited for sikhchic.com]
March 19, 2014
Conversation about this article
1: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), March 19, 2014, 6:42 PM.
It was in 1957 as a Cadet Planter while doing a stunt on my brand new Norton 350 cc motor cycle. I fractured my heel and was confined to my quarters. It was when I caught up with my reading. I had just obtained a full set of Samuel Smiles books. After all those years, there's something that remains stuck in my mind to this day and I quote from one of his books vis-a-vis Harleen's Five-Dollar Bill: "As daylight can be seen through very small holes, so little things will illustrate a person's character. Indeed character consists in little acts, well and honourably performed; daily life being the quarry from which we build it up, and rough-hew the habits which form it. One of the most marked tests of character is the manner in which we conduct ourselves towards others. A graceful behaviour towards superiors, inferiors, and equals, is a constant source of pleasure. It pleases others because it indicates respect for their personality; but it gives tenfold more pleasure to ourselves. Every man may to a large extent be a self-educator in good behaviour, as in everything else; he can be civil and kind, if he will, though he have not a penny in his purse. Gentleness in society is like the silent influence of light, which gives colour to all nature; it is far more powerful than loudness or force, and far more fruitful. It pushes its way quietly and persistently, like the tiniest daffodil in spring, which raises the clod and thrusts it aside by the simple persistency of growing."