Do you think it matters how you treat the barista at Starbucks or the person next to you in traffic? Realistically, you might never see them again, so who cares if you are rude?
But I think, deep down, we want to believe that our actions matter. If our actions matter, then we, too, matter. Even when we think there are no consequences to what we do, like how we speak to a stranger or treat a spider, our actions are important.
Our Torah portion, B’chukotai, presents us with a theology underlying this line of thinking: if we follow God’s commandments good things will befall us, but if we do not, curses will befall us. While this theology underpins much of the Torah, I am troubled by the logic that when bad things happen it’s a sign that we did not follow God. But I do appreciate the notion that each action, no matter how small or large, has consequences and that what we put into the world comes back to us.