A little perspective

Courtesy of the forest floor

Sanders Preserve, Schenectady, NY

Sit gently on the forest floor, and all the small details grow.

Ferns become jungles. Puddles are lakes. Simple trickles of runoff explode into violent torrents. Get lost in the little forest floor details long enough, and you’ll almost start to misunderstand what you’re seeing.

It kind of blew my mind when I learned how some of the destruction scenes in The “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” were actually small scale models the filmmakers toppled like stacks of children’s blocks. The river that razed Isengard to the ground was actually a moderate stream of water released on a tiny wooden replica. I’m still equal parts deceived and impressed.

Magnifying what’s small can be good in so many ways, as sometimes the small things deserve their day.

It can also make you stuck in a place that’s not nearly as big as it seems.

It’s exhausting, when every puddle is a lake, every little runoff a grand rapid. I used to often make a big deal out of small things, especially if it challenged my point of view or sense of justice. I did so not out of superiority or pride, but out of anxiety and fear.

If you don’t think you can handle really big stuff, you grasp for what little you think you can, and try to make it bigger.

When the small things start to grow too large, it might mean you’ve stayed in one place for too long.

It’s time to get up off the forest floor, and move on.