“Not a little thing like that! Not a butterfly!” This quote from the short story “A Sound of Thunder,” written by Ray Bradbury, shows the impact of even the smallest things. In this short story everything is changed after Eckels returns and finds out that he killed a butterfly while hunting a dinosaur so many years ago. It is important to see the impact of the small things, because even the small things can have a major impact. So, sweat the small stuff, show self-control, and do not try to gauge the impact of things.

When realizing the impact of the small things it is important to sweat the small stuff. In the above listed story Eckels says “killing one butterfly couldn’t be that important!” Eckels is so nonchalant about the small stuff which truly does matter so why there is the saying do not sweat the small stuff makes no sense. Eckels believes small things can not create big problems which is simply wrong. It is important to see the impact of the small things in life.

In sweating the small stuff it is important to show self-control. Eckels says in the story “can’t we take it back, can’t we make it alive again?” Here is the necessity of self-control to limit the bad decisions and human nature so we can avoid the results that come from bad decisions. Also, because the past can not be changed there must be self-control present so that there is nothing to change. Show self-control and there will be a better future.

In creating a future with fewer changes necessary it is important not to try to gauge the impact of things. For example, in basketball it is best to let the game go on and there is a reaction based on the way the game is being played naturally (instinctively). Yet when there is thinking involved and there is the what should be the reaction be thoughts there is hesitation and usually this causes the results not to be the best because we try to gauge how the reaction would turn out. When there is gauging occurring and there are the sayings of how small things do not matter the cautiousness is gone and so is the desire for the best results. Also, there is human nature, no one is perfect so there will be a miss gauging eventually if this occurs and that one could have a major impact. There is a big importance on not gauging the impact of anything.