I know it's a super small thing, nothing to brag on, but...
This morning, the guy who directs traffic at my daughter's school was wearing this incredibly ridiculous hat. Like... An aviator hat with multicolored string stuff hanging down like hair.
So, obviously, I rolled down my window to say "Badass hat, my man!" and gave him a thumbs up. I genuinely liked it.
He gave one of the largest smiles I've ever seen and I feel like I made his whole ass day. Like... he gave the smile I gave when I first used my flamethrower. It was heartwarming to me that such a small gesture would be so well received, and we should treat each other this way more often. It costs nothing and could make someone happy and I feel better about the world despite this not really amounting to much in the grand scheme of things.
This is a good example of the difference between happiness and joy.
Happiness is when he bought the hat or simply when he wears it.
Joy is what he experienced after our chance meeting.
Little stuff can matter bigly, is all I mean. Be kind.