Cracks

The world is full of a mystifying order that seems to rival and
overpower the natural entropy that each of us rational organisms
provides. Most any college dormroom will plead to the contrary,
joined in chorus with the apparent randomness of the flight of the
orange and yellow leaves of autumn. Leaves do but land at the new
home that gravity and friction have destined to be theirs. There
is an ounce of disarray, perhaps,  perceived by the naked eye, but
it stirs the souls of even those  for whom organization is a
necessity. From afar, leaves seem  not random placements of
former arboreal matter; instead,  they join their colleagues in the
splendid matrimony of thousands  of leaves, each of them unique
in their own right, but their  individuality becomes threatened
by a distant viewpoint. Also  thus threatened are the ants that
share with us only the paths  on which we tread. We stride about,
uncaring and perhaps unaware  of the incredibly small and
infinitesimally unimportant  insects for whom we do not tremble, as
they would for us if indeed  they were capable of that emotional
response. Nay, they linger  not within our minds but beneath our
soles,  striving in their   never-ending dual purposes of self-
preservation and continuity  of their anthropodal race, insignificant
to those so much higher on   the hypothetical food chain. They tarry
amongst the sidewalk cracks,  the very cracks on which our children
teach themselves not to step.  After all, no one wants to break their
mother's back. Such blind and    unwarranted avoidance of cracks does
not, however, imply impression     of these ants on the decision-making
processes of the human race.   ants  are, in effect, banished forever
to the cracks of our sidewalks,     forever ignored. Ants are not
the only species thusly exiled.    Granted, perhaps ants are of the
rare variety of organisms that    could possibly fit between the cracks
of our artificial pathways, but    even humans can somehow fall
into cracks, much larger cracks,    cracks that bode as much misfortune
and misery for us as the sidewalks   do for ants. The situation,
however, differs slightly in that   those responsible for human
damnation are the same upon which   the damnation befalls. Indeed,
rare among humans is the case of   condemnation unpreventable by
its sufferers. Much more common   is the intentional and solemn
descent into the perilous cracks,  battling not against but with
the tides in an almost suicidal   lack of positive effort. I have
seen many a person offer their   surrender to a foe hardly worth the
submission, mournfully casting    themselves into the abyss of
unimportance, acceptant of the    possibility that no one cares.
Such a fate is ill-desired and    unfortunate in and of itself, but
even more so because it is never    a necessary outcome. To live
is but to impress. A man that has    lived without affecting even
a single other person has not lived   at all. Such a man has indeed
cast himself away to be forgotten    entirely by a world that perhaps
did not even notice his existence.   But it need not be difficult to
change the world and dispel the     horrid outcome. You are not
required to solve the problem of   world hunger or to find a cure for
cancer. It can be as simple as    loving another more than yourself, or
offering support and compassion   at the whim of someone that needs it.
It can be as simple as instilling  laughter when entertainment
is appropriate, or by offering a   welcome distraction from the
stresses of a day. Hell, a mere   compliment can be enough to change a
person's outlook entirely. Beauty  often comes in the simplest of
packages, and positive influence   on others is as beautiful as
any snow-capped mountaintop, as   beautiful as life itself. Don't fall into
the abyss of insignificance. Be  dear to someone. Be a light in
someone's closeted existence. Be  a candle in someone's nuclear
winter of despair. Be a compass  for the hopelessly lost and
confused. Be the drug that cures  at least some of life's
bitternesses. Be hope in a world desolate and starving for it. Be
confidence for the coward spirit hiding within us all. Be
compassion for everyone in need of it. Be love for everyone.

Don't fall into the cracks.