Count That Day Lost Post Reading

Eliot spoke of small and brief acts of kindness, in the picture we can see  that a sapling is being planted, a small brief act, the benefits of which will reverberate for decades and perhaps centuries to come.

The little girl knowingly or not has done something which will leave a positive imprint upon that place for a long time. for now that little sapling may not do anything but like the little girl who planted it, the untapped potential it has knows no bounds.

The second half of the first stanza delivers a little story-it tells you how to act and what the consequences might hopefully be. This part of the story actually tells you that you can earn from doing a selfless act not by  getting material reward but rather by having a better feeling or “karma” for the rest of your day. In the picture we can see a young woman checking on an older woman. Moreover she took her precious time to insure the elderly lady will be ok, with a loving and caring attitude. We are sure that the selfless act the young woman made, has made the young womens’ day a lot better and more meaningful.

Quote 1:”One self-denying deed, one word. That eased the heart of him who heard”

In this quote and the first stanza in general, Elliot speaks of doing small acts of kindness for the sake of being kind to others and no other reason. Like in the two pictures Elliot says that no matter what kind act you did grand or minute so long as you brought kindness to a heart then as Elliot says “Then you may count that day well spent.”

In the first half of the second stanza hides one of the most important quotes in all of the song: But if, through all the livelong day, You’ve cheered no heart, by yea or nay.

That quote takes a steep turn as the poem turns from positive to negative. Additionally, we believe that the reason George Eliot has written this quote is to give the reader a perception of time over her life. For that reason we chose the picture of an Hourglass. To remind yourself that there is no time and every single day matters

In the second half of the second stanza we see this this quote: “No act most small. That helped some soul and nothing cost”

The picture represents exactly these words, if you dont act and dont help a soul (A person) then “your day will be ruined”. For example, the young child looks at the old poor man sitting in the corner and his mother ignores the old man. If they would simply reach out to him, help him even by giving him a few dollars it would mean a good deed and their day will be perhaps a little less alone and depressed.

Quote 2: “No act most small That helped some soul and nothing cost” in this quote Elliot says that like in the fourth picture simply ignoring and going past suffering is unkindness in itself that ignorance is no excuse for wasting your potential to light up a soul for no matter for how brief of a moment and furthermore like the third picture describes if you couldn’t even amount yourself to  not ignore someone whose suffering then as Elliot so elegantly puts it  “Then count that day as worse than lost.”

Bibliography:

http://www.thehighperformancelife.net/blog-3/helping-others – picture 4

https://drmahdimason.com/sustainability/2017/9/20/helping-the-environment-is-not-a-selfless-pursuit – picture 1

https://www.marcandangel.com/2023/03/26/25-things-you-need-to-stop-wasting-time-on/ – picture 3

https://everydaypower.com/good-deeds-quotes/ – picture 2

Cover Page Book and Quote Pictures – https://www.canva.com/

Book – https://www.ourboox.com