Big and Small Things

Today my baby brother turns 40!

He is a distinguished university professor with contributions to what we know about the world. My other siblings also have made their contribution for a better world. This I call small things. What individuals do is a small contribution to the process of life, and specifically human life.

What are the big things?

I really do not know. Maybe the sum of all those small things. The good feelings we produce to those close to us. Maybe we do not even know they feel so good about us. When my father died in December of 1980, all his children felt that some umportant person had passed over the face of the Earth. Of course only us kids knew. The world at large did not know that somebody so important had died. As it happened the next day John Lennon died, and the whole world knew. My father also wrote poetry, and was a courageous and wise man. Was his work small, and Lennon's big?

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind ...

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.