I was raised in an environment where I heard that man do important things and woman do little things. My father is responsible for the big business, big decisions, and my mother takes care of us, nutrition, home and little things. When expressing herself through art and craft, it is only a hobby and her creations are cute. On the other hand, achievements that are measurable, visible and so called successful are the real goals to be sought. When I worked in a law firm, the partners were busy with important things, and human resources, usually woman, did frippery little things classified as “miscellaneous” in the meeting schedule. In school, I had the important mainstream subjects, like math, writing and reading, and little, casual, soft activities like music, art and dancing. In hospital, doctors do the important things and nurses are accessories taking care of “the rest”. I delegated “little things” too, like bathing my daughter, taking care of our nutrition and the harmony of our house. These values are so deeply routed in our society, and in me, that it is really hard to take off these glasses and change the matrix. We keep labeling, judging and are blind to what matters. However blind, experience does not lie and shows us where we stay now with all these “important things” that we prioritized and the “little things” that we neglected. People are sick, disconnected and depressed. Today I realized that “little things” saved me from forgetting who I am. These “little things” are helping me to find the way back to love, compassion, presence and ethics. It is not about comparing man and woman, nor about putting jobs in a scale. It is about being aware of the values we attribute to what really matters. We do not need more people doing “important things”. We need to free ourselves from the habit of polarizing values. We need love.
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