900 words

There are many small moments of life's magnificence that just so happen to be ignored or forgotten in our busy lives while we are looking for that big exciting adventure story. In Fathers, Sons, and Brothers, the author, Bret Lott emphasizes that there is a great deal of beauty in the simple moments in life in which people grow, and relationships develop. Small, everyday moments can change a life if we just pay attention to everything that we can learn from the little things in life. Bret Lott emphasizes these moments and how great of an impact they had on his life and the lives and relationships of his loved ones.

Some would say that life changing realization comes with big, important occurrences in one's life. This cannot be denied however there are numerous lessons that can be learned through life's simplicity. Average days can leave a person with extraordinary growth if they just pay attention to how beautiful the little things actually are. There are days in everyone’s life with no real story but these days can be extremely important because they can make one realize the faults that they have, and the good in others. Bret Lott confronted one of these days in the chapter titled “Atonement.” This chapter is extremely short at only around two pages and it only tells of a typical day of usual frustrations of being a father. He was taking his son, Zeb, to karate lessons and common irritations came into play. Bret uncharacteristically yelled at Zeb for arguing about putting on his shoes, and Bret realized the fault in his ways. In order to encompass his day Bret writes, "There are days like today. Days with no story, really, other than the misstep, the idiot words and gestures, the sincere belief for a moment, however blind, that all this yelling might actually do some good, when the world and Velcro sandals seem somehow malevolently aligned against you. Then the right word, the right gesture. The lunch at Wendy's, atonement after confession. No story, really, other than that of being a father." (77).

This day was typical. Nothing special was going on but common life aggravations caught up with Bret as they do with everyone. It was not like Bret to yell so much at his kids for something so small but he got overwhelmed and took out his anger on his children. He acknowledges the error in his ways, he learned from what he had done wrong because he took the time to notice and learn from the little things. He included this essay because it was a simple, common, average day. There was no big awesome adventure story. Everyone has these kinds of average days where things just build up and cause great frustration over something small. It is essential to take the simple mistake and learn from this occurrence and realize the importance of confessing the error of ways and saying the words “I am sorry.” Bret exemplified that there was no real big story but he learned. He grew. He admitted fault and connected with his kids.

There is so much beauty in small moments even after they follow up big events because those moments are when there is time to reflect and realize the truth, the lesson, the beauty, the insurmountable discovery. There is time to appreciate life, growth, and relationships in the small moments and Bret Lott gives examples of this at the end of the chapter titled “Jacob.” Lott writes, “All this I believe is what fatherhood is all about: stupidity, adventure, threats, silence, blood, fear. The immensity of a night sky. Love. All this lies before us, and behind us. For now, through there is only this moment, the two of us on a street glazes with ice, the world growing blue.”(115). Bret Lott emphasizes the importance of sitting back and smelling the roses after something big happens. This is when one can take in all of the events of the day and come to an understanding craziness. It is too hard to reflect, understand, and learn from the big events when everything is hectic because there is no time to take everything. It is far too overwhelming. In the average simple slow moments, one can grow and relationships can develop. In this simple moment that Bret explains, he grows closer to his son and dives into a deeper understanding of what fatherhood is. He learned in the simple moment. He came to an understanding when he had time to appreciate the beauty of the night while he was bonding with his son. He paid attention to the little things and he grew closer to his son.

Sometimes these simple moments cannot even be put into words but they still have a profound effect on the one who has taken the time to notice the beauty in the details. Sometimes there are not words good enough to explain the effect that something had on a person. Bret Lott went to Wadmalaw Island on a rainy Sunday and just took in the scenery. This was the sort of a day that someone would just sit around and watch television however Bret Lott went out and saw one of the most beautiful visions of his life. “A Sunday, a day of rest in October on Wadmalaw Island, a day dangerously close to being lost to television and a rainy sky. Though she does not know it yet, the view from here is the most beautiful gift I can remember Melanie giving me, and already I’m lining up words in my head to give back to her once we drive back home – making sure to stop at Circle K on Johns Island –words that will amount, I know already, only to a meager translation of all I’ve seen.”(149). Bret wanted his wife to understand and see what he saw however he could only tell her about it and the words did not seem to amount to anything close to the beauty that he actually saw. This shows that he saw the beauty in a simple moment of scenery and he grew to appreciate the simple pleasures and everyone needs to go observe the world and grow because it is not the same just to hear about it from another person because words don’t amount to the wonder of nature.

Through his memoir, Bret Lott expressed the importance of simple pleasures, simple mistakes, and simple occurrences which one can grow and if we all just take the opportunity to pay
attention to the little things then we could all grow and build our relationships in ways that we never knew were possible.