It's the little things...

So I'm a little slow. Chas Clifton already commented on this essay, and I hadn't gotten around to reading it yet. Well, now I have, and it got me to thinking about my post yesterday.

Tyrsson's thoughts on Naglfar and Ragnarok are perfect proofs of why that dry, boring research isn't some kind of a spiritual buzzkill. First of all, it's not really dry and boring, at least with a lot of Asatruar sources .. you've got killing, giants, more killing, drinking, singing, and killing. What's not to like?

But sitting and thinking about something, literally, not that important -- why would the ship of the dead be made out of fingernail clippings for Balder's sake? -- gives you one of this little nuggets of wisdom that we know, but too often forget. And it gives it in a way that we're not likely to forget -- ships of the dead and the end of the world being pretty memorable, after all.

At that point a superstition -- saving your fingernails -- stops being a superstition, and can become a reminder. What other little things are you letting fall, unaccounted for? What little messes are you making, without really thinking about it, that you could clean up in a few moments that, later on, are going to wind up being so much larger and more unmanageable?