Little things may mean a lot Published Dec. 18, 2007 By Col. Kenneth Stefanek 39th Air Base Wing Vice commander INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- I took my son to lunch last weekend to the restaurant of his choosing - we ended up at the Bowling Center (which has pretty good burgers, btw). After lunch he asked if we could play X-Box at the After Six Lounge for a while. Although I had other things to do, I agreed and promptly got trounced in one of the Star Wars games they have there. Apparently the skills I built up over years of flying high-performance fighter aircraft didn't help when battling droids on a remote planet in the Mustafar system. Although we only played X-Box for 30 minutes or so, my son has mentioned how much fun he had playing that game three or four times since, as it appears the 30 minutes of X-Box with his dad was a big deal to him. The lesson I relearned is that the little things we do that may not seem like a big deal to us can make a world of difference to others. Examples include holding the door open for someone, offering a helping hand to a person who looks like they need it, or simply smiling and saying "hi" to people you pass. Taking that lesson one step further as we focus on the fast approaching holidays, I'd suggest that the little things we do for each other from one day to the next are really more important than the once-a-year gestures we often see during this time of year. As we search the Base Exchange or Alley for that perfect gift for someone in our lives, please remember that many small acts of kindness or "gifts" given throughout the year usually say more than one big present under the tree. As a hit song from years ago says, often times, little things mean a lot.