What if Jim Douglas never adopted Jagdish (Tytler)? What if Heisenberg was not a Pacifist? What if Bush Jr had never been elected president? What if I'd never left Delhi to come to Bombay?
There are billions of questions like these...some with terrible consequences...some that are meaningless and yet fun to think about...and some that just bring a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye.
What makes me bring this, of all things, up? A classic mixture of pictures and words... The Butterfly Effect and "What If-", by Isaac Asimov.
This combination got me thinking... thinking about the choices I've made in the past and the effect they have on me now. It also made me wonder whether what I did was right...or for the best...or both...or neither?
Everyone comes to a crossroads in their life, now and then. The choices we make at these points are what determine who we are at every moment after that, be it a few minutes or half a century later.
Take a judge, for example, who has to choose between punishing a first time juvenile offender, or letting him off with a warning. If the choice is to punish, that child may (and probably will) grow into a hardened criminal, whose later actions will not only affect him, but also the lives of those who become the subject of his crimes, AS WELL as the people associated with them, leading to a colossal chain of effect for that single action of punishment.
On the other hand, if the judge chooses compassion, an entirely new chain of events will be set in motion. With proper guidance, the man who would have gone on to ruin several lives, his included, could become a contributor to society.
The flutter of a butterfly's wings can cause a typhoon halfway around the world.
3 comments:
I'll give you my comments branched out in two ways. One is a stylistic approach -I'll tell you what I thought on the way you've written. The second will be my thoughts on what you've written.
Your beginning was tight and interesting - it did exactly what a good beginning does; directed the reader's thinking. At places, I felt that the thoughts seemed a bit scattered, which I think can be seamed together if you club a few paragraphs which follow the beginning together, to bring more continuity.
I loved the idea - but I wish you'd write a bit more about your own choices and their consequences. If you think that would be too personal, maybe a little more on what choices you think were significant.. Overall, it's a well thought out piece with a crisp ending.
What if .. reminds me of Kipling's poem and also makes me wonder how on earth things like palmistry and astrology can be true, when you make these choices, sometimes compelled, sometimes without any visible reason. You know what I think? I think the effects of some of the choices we make are so far-reaching, we are never able to imagine the extent.
Great theme - just write more on it.
The reason I didn't write about my own choices is exactly what you said...we never know what consequences our actions may have.
It does bring another distant memory to mind though..from Mitch Albom's "The Five People you Meet in Heaven"...about how the protagonist cause a person's death without knowing it, and finally finds out when he meets him in heaven...imagine finding out something like that when you're still alive!
Freaky when put like that, yeah. Ever analyzed the smallest of your actions on a gigantic scale, like the flutter of wings example? When you DID do them, that is.
You can never be certain..what song can change your life, what newspaper cutting can alter your career, how a special look from someone familier can make you feel..it certainly does add the excitement to your life,but oh LORD, its so exhausting..it's almost a habit now, this analyzing business..
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