Little things matter, was a chapter in a book that I am researching that is specifically written to aide teenagers to become successful in life.  Although as adults, we have heard the other term about not sweating the small stuff, when you are young and setting the course for your life, what are perceived as small and insignificant decisions can have long term ramifications.  For instance, a young person who does not think about their education as being important, or perhaps a specific subject, such as mathematics.  This has been a belief among many, that at one time included myself, about the need for advanced math in our lives as adults.  As much as I love writing and reading and all things in the literary world, my world of work is filled with many daily types of math which had I not had a foundation in over the years, it would have made my life a bit more complicated now.  Managing a budget, reviewing and analyzing reports which contain various data, along with the ever increasing concept of managing more with less, has become a reality in my life that I must contend with almost daily.  When ever I over hear a young child or adolescent talk about how they will never have a need for what they are studying for right now, it usually makes me laugh at where they will be in twenty years from now, if they were to hold on to that particular philosophy.  For young folks, making a decision about the friends that they want to hang around with, deciding whether or not to succumb to any peer pressure that may involve drinking or drugs, can have life changing effects.  Life is certainly tougher now, with the many things that a young person has to contend with, aside from the pressure of their peers there is pressure of the world itself.  The need to be faster, view everything quicker and absorb all types of information in vast quantities is a tough place to be in at times.  My feeling is that if there is anything else that could be taught along the lines of understanding that little things matter, is also that lessons can be learned and forgiveness for yourself should be a muscle that also needs exercise.  It is easier said than done what we as adults would like a young person to look out for at their age.  However, we must also remember that we all learned our own lessons as a result of our actions and although the outcomes were uncomfortable at times, we all managed to get through them.  May your wisdom allow you to be the beacon of light to others, no matter what age and may you always have the presence of mind that you were once at an age when you too did not know all the answers that your mind had questions about.  Treating small decisions with the importance they deserve, can lead you to making the big decisions with more ease in the end.