In mathematics, there is something called the Archimedean property of the real numbers. I could give you a technical definition, but what it boils down to in good old fashioned Oklahoma talk is that little things add up.
During one of our recent snow storms, my better half and I shoveled the driveway. My driveway is 90 feet by 6 feet. In the metric system, this is about 30 meters by 2 meters. It was covered by six inches of snow, which is about 15 centimeters, or 0.15 meters. This works out to 9 cubic meters of snow.
Now 9 cubic meters of snow will melt to nine-tenths of a cubic meter of water, which is 900 thousand cubic centimeters. The metric system was set up so that one cubic centimeter of water is a gram, so that makes 900 thousand grams of water, that is to say 900 kilograms, of water. That works out to about 1,800 pounds.
Given there were some guesses in there and we are all friends here, let’s call it a ton.
Even working together, my wife and I can’t lift a ton, but we didn’t do it all at once. We each had a shovel. I divided the driveway into zones and we did it a zone at a time, and each zone we took out a shovel at a time. Working together, it took about an hour and a half.
It sort of amazes me that my tiny wife and I can move that much snow just by dividing the task into small enough pieces. It is much more amazing that nature put it all in place one flake at a time. No one was ever hurt by the weight of a snowflake, but enough of them on the driveway can give you a heart attack.
This discovery of mine — that little things add up — is becoming part of my message as I grow older. I know that it’s not new with me. I know people have been trying to pound it into my head for years, but I’ve finally internalized the message and I see it everywhere.
The people who are at the checkout stand at the grocery store are not particularly athletic looking, yet they will drag tons of groceries past that cash register one can at a time, one bag of chips at time, one loaf of bread at a time.
The place I wish I’d seen it first is in the matter of money. During the course of the day, I buy coffee, lunch, or whatever and pay cash. At the end of the day, I have a flower pot where I put my change. I do this every day with regularity. I hardly even think about it anymore. Over the course of time, I filled up that flower pot and another one. This Christmas, I took it in to the bank and discovered it was over $300 in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. I put that into a bank account where I put similar amounts from here and there, and, over the course of time, I hope to be able to travel to South America again, all from the change left over from drinking coffee. Just thinking about it makes me want to pour myself another cup.
