one of my favorite movies is called the paper, starring michael keaton and marisa tomei. michael keaton is the metro editor of the new york sun, working hectic schedules, and marisa tomei is his wife, trying to vie for any little bit of his time, and trying to tell him that it’s not ok. telling him that he needs to put his priorities in order. all through the movie she gives him hypothetical situations and asks him to choose something, and near the end she gives him this one: ” a man breaks into our apartment and puts a gun to my head, and says he has planted a bomb at the ny sun building, and he has to choose: the paper or your wife. choose.” and he goes ballistic and says something to the effect that he won’t choose because it’s a ludicrous situation, and it would never happen. then she points out that that’s exactly her point, that life isn’t one big life or death choice. it’s a thousand tiny little choices that you make every single day. one of my favorite literary characters is tasselhoff burrfoot. (if you know who this is, let me know that i’m not a nerd alone ;). in a certain book, he talks about something his father told him, to the effect of: big things are really made up of a lot of small things. the same thoughts & reasoning, no? makes me wonder how often we stop and think when we make a choice ‘is this something that might have larger effects in the future?’ i know i don’t, but maybe i should.. at least once in a while.

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