It’s the small choices
So I was listening to NPR’s Fresh Air podcast yesterday, and something occurred to me. You see, I was listening to an interview with Dion, the doo-wop singer from way back in the day, the guy who sang “Rosie”, “The Wanderer”, and many other famous hits.
Dion told a story of travelling on the road back in the old days, before music stars had entourages and large private charter busses. He was on the road with several other musician friends of his doing a tour, ostensibly for their music label, and they were traversing the country with naught but an old school bus to carry them. Being an old school bus, it was given to breaking down frequently. So, some of the guys he was with got sick of it, and chartered a flight to their next stop to guarantee they got there on time. They tried to get him on board to split the cost and save a bit, but it would have cost him $36, which was exactly the rent money he remembered his parents arguing over as a kid in the Bronx, and he couldn’t justify spending an entire month’s rent for a short flight.
So, Dion hopped back on the bus, while Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper hopped a flight that barely got off the ground.
What does all this mean? I don’t really know. It just got me thinking that sometimes it’s the little decisions we make, the ones we think so trivial, that can make a big difference in our lives. I’m not saying it’s a good thing to spend hours laboring over whether to get french fries or onions rings every night at dinner, but it at least puts things into perspective. We spend all our time worrying about the “big decisions” about careers, major financial outlays, family planning choices, etc. ad nauseam, but sometimes we are terrible judges of which decisions really will have a major impact on our lives.
Food for thought, at least.