The Greatness of the Mundane

When I was a kid I used to read a lot, biographies, science fiction, even encyclopedias. I grew up pretending to save galaxies, discover a new cure for a deadly disease, or fight for the oppressed and down-trodden. Then life happened- high school, college, a job, marriage and kids. While I still like to read and dream of doing extrodinary things my reality is one without blasters or life-threatening dilemas. My big issue on any given day is whether to make dinner before the wife gets home or hope she is less tired than I am and is up to making it.

For most of us the things that we take for granted will be our legacy for good or bad. Did you give extra support to your spouse on a day they needed it? Did your relationship with your kid come first? Did you do anything for someone else without the thought of what you would get back? I’ll never have my name listed in an encyclopdia like Commodore Matthew Perry (who is credited with opening Japan to trading with the west). Instead what will carry on from me after I die will be my children and the relationships I created with others. Thus the terribly mundane things in life are what really matters, a realization that most of us get too caught up in surviving jobs, bills, and dreaming of the weekend to remember.

“It’s likely that the greatest things you will achieve in life will come out of the most mundane parts of your life.”