Letting Go

I remember hearing about, and laughing at, an episode of The Simpsons.  Apparently Homer had has hand stuck in a vending machine.  People came and took the machine apart and rescued him.  It was only after the machine was taken apart, the rescuers discovered that the only reason Homer’s hand was stuck was because he would not let go of the drink in his hand.  Let it go and he is free, don’t let go and he need rescuing.
I have heard people say, “just let it go.”  More often than not it is about something that one party or both hold to, and they cannot, or will not, be swayed.  Sometimes it matters.  At other times what we are holding really does not matter.  Whatever the case, I don’t believe anyone’s beliefs should ever keep them from caring about another person.  I remember saying to someone “some things matter, many do not.”  For my circumstance, what matters is really up to me to decide.
The thing for me is that if it does not matter, it really should be let go of.  If I don’t let it go, there is a good chance I will cause a lot of inconvenience to others.
For me, it is the big picture that matters.  There are many extraneous things that, while looking important, are not that way for me.  They may be for someone else, but for me they are not.
I loved the Nania set of books.  In The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Edmund eats Turkish Delight given him by the white witch.  He thinks it is the best thing since, well, sliced bread.   He keeps heading in a wrong direction spurred on by his memory of that taste and his desire to experience it again.  I can be like that.  My memory of something is such that I want to experience it again.  Personally I have found it is never as good.  So often something can seem like the bees knees, but when I get it, I wonder what the fuss was about.  What looked like gold becomes dust in my hands.
What is the saying “if you love something, let it go.  If it comes back it is yours, and if not, it was never meant to be.”  The secret for me is not pursuing it.  If it comes back, great, and if not, well there are other more important things for me.   I will pursue what matters to me.  If not, I will let it go.
In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan helps the children defeat the white witch.  That was the big picture.  Sometimes what I want, does not match the big picture, no matter how good it seems to me.  At that point I need to let it go and pursue something that is big picture oriented.