Ok, talk about random thoughts… While folding sheets fresh from the laundry, I was looking out through my bedroom window at the potted ranunculuses and pansies on the balcony.  A random thought came to me, I was thinking, ‘what is the point of life?’   A basic philosophical point to consider, I thought.  Not morbid or anything like that.  Just a basic point.

I then spotted a small brown squirrel appear on the edge of the balcony outside my bedroom window.  It was wide eyed, peeping under the black bars separating the concrete porch from the open air.  It moved forward along the edge of the balcony, with quick little bursts of a few steps, constantly aware of its surroundings, perchance spying something that might frighten it away.  It moved from one flower pot to the next, finally ending up at the other side of the balcony peering into the pot with fresh basil, rosemary and chives.  It was quite interested in the chives in particular it seemed.  Then it moved in further onto the balcony, closer to where I was watching it from my bedroom window, all the while unaware of my presence – or was it?  I was thinking that my two cats would have been thrilled to watch this little critter moving about.  I was expecting to see one of them peeping through the blinds of the balcony door, staring at the little guy.  It continued to move about the balcony in little bursts of steps, investigating.  It turned and went back to the edge of the balcony, stopped, seeming as if it knew I was watching it, and then went away.

That is the point of life.  The little things.  The squirrel.  The herbs.  The flowers.  The breezy, sunny, beautiful day.  Why do these things seem to bring people such enjoyment?  Or do they, I wondered?  Do they mean the same thing for everyone?  I have always heard that saying: ‘it is the little things in life that matter.’  Maybe that is true.  I was having such a bad day until I saw that little squirrel scurrying around.  Why did that cheer me up?

I think in sociology sometimes we get too caught up in the big problems of the day and worry ourselves to death trying to figure out why other people should care as much about poverty or gender inequality as we do to notice the little things.  What is it that keep people going day in and day out, sometimes just surviving, others, living life to the fullest, yet all the while knowing, deep down, that we will all one day die.  Are there little motivations in the day to day life that drive us to live?  I think so.  We focus (rightly) on the importance of income, wealth, social capital, networks, values, and a host of other factors that making living life possible – social factors.  Big factors.  I propose that we consider also small factors.  The little things in life.

Why do spotting a pair of cardinals chirping at one another, the smell of roses, the sound of waves crashing on the shore of southern California, the adventures of a small kitten playing with random objects, or a sunset in the Willamette valley bring a smile to people’s faces or joy in their hearts?  Not only that, but why do we share these moments with others, or feel compelled to share them, such as with social media, pictures or video?  Why are cat videos the most watched thing on the internet?  These seemingly small things must be a really big deal.  So why do we not study this as sociologists?  How is this not sociological?  I think it is.

I guess the trick is figuring out what we can learn from it.  Well, for one, the little things bring people together in a positive way.  Watching cat videos, for instance, is a way for family members to share a moment of togetherness, even when they are physically very far apart.  My mother shared via Facebook a video of a cat riding around on a robotic vacuum cleaner.  She and I live 800 miles apart, yet this was something we could share that brought a smile to my face.  Perhaps the little things is a way that we maintain social bonds in an everyday sense.  Maybe the little events of maintenance is how we sustain social bonds.

But what about the events that take place in isolation, such as when I was alone watching the squirrel?  How is this social?  Well, I immediately thought about how I was going to tell my wife about it.  I would tell her about the little fellow scooting along the edge of the balcony, looking cute, and so on and so forth.  It is a conversation piece.  Something positive she and I can share together, a story of my happiness, a narrative of my emotions that takes on a deeper meaning when sharing it with a significant other.  While the event itself took place in social isolation, the narrative of emotion the event engendered is material with which I can share the experience with others, it is building material for sustaining social bonds.  I believe social bonds require constant work to maintain them, that they need patching, updating, repairing, and reinforcing, much like a bridge.  Once established, a social bond only lasts for as long as we sustain it.  A social bond is not a static thing, but it is a dynamic understanding between people that consists of intermittent bonding work activities that perpetuate it over time and across space.  It is work that must be performed by all members of the relationship in order to exist.  One person cannot do it all, though sometimes we feel like a relationship can be one-sided.  In those cases, when we feel like we are doing all the work, we make the other feel bad through sanctions.  Anyways, I think the little things in life is just one strategy by which people perpetuate social bonds that are of importance to them, whether family, significant others, friends or co-workers.

Whether a new substantive area of sociological research or not, that little squirrel was pretty damn funny, and I wish my wife had been there to see it.