"You know, some things don't matter that much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart--now, that matters. The whole prolem with people is...they know what matters but they don't choose it...The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters."
If you haven't read the book, August is talking about why they decided to paint their house "flamingo pink." Her sister, May, who was an extremely sensitive individual to say the least, wanted it to be pink. When it came right down to it, August chose what matters. The question is, do we?
Here is a small example from my life today: Damon has been asking for days if he could paint, glue and cut. I told him that on Friday, when Allie was sleeping, that would be a good day for "arts and crafts." Maybe I should've thought about that last night when I finally got around to mopping the floor; something I should've done a week ago. Damon promised to be careful and not make any messes. He was very apologetic when, inevitably, he did.
Note that he used my clean kitchen rags and towels to wipe the paint off the floor. He was happy to clean up, though, which I can't always say is the case with him.
Here is one of his masterpieces, House on Fire.
When it comes right down to it, it really doesn't matter that my floor is dirty again or the kitchen towels may now only be used to clean the floor. What matters is that Damon feels good about his abilities (he said he's an artist) and that he didn't spend the afternoon driving me crazy.
It may be hard sometimes to choose what matters, but it's always worth it. I may need to be reminded of that tomorrow, or the next time "arts and crafts" rolls around.
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