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April 11, 2025

Talking to Your Therapist About Pete Seeger

On little things.

My therapist asked me what helps keep me grounded, and I said, well, I have this project where I try to write about a little thing each week.

The thing is, the little things keep ending up being about the big things, and I am feeling overwhelmed, I told her. I worry I am losing faith in the little things.

She said, Okay, let me tell you a story. At the protest last weekend, looking out above the crowd, she saw someone on the steps of Park Street Church with a sign that read BATHROOMS IN HERE. This all reminded her of something Pete Seeger said, and she couldn’t quite recall it, but it was about the little things. Something like, if we make it out, it’ll be because of them.

Anyway, she said, the sign made her realize there are so many little ways you can rise to the occasion. You can look around and think: What, in this moment, do I have to give?

Later, she sent me an email. All she wrote was Pete Seeger in the subject line, and there was a single screenshot attached.

A handwritten note with a signature by Pete Seeger and a small banjo sketch.  Transcribed Text:  "I'm convinced that if the world survives these dangerous times it will be tens of millions of small things that do it. keep on! old Pete Pete Seeger"
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