The other day, I was talking with a friend and he told me about his father, who used to work on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center. Luckily, my friend’s father was sent to a conference in Chicago a few days before the September 11th attacks. Had his father not been sent to the conference that week, things would have turned out very differently for my friend.
Every day we make so many decisions, big and small, and perform so many actions, good and bad, that have the potential of altering situations drastically. I don’t intend to go on a science fiction rant about alternate realities, but I want to expand on the idea that each of us indirectly has an impact on those around us and even on those whom we don’t know. So if I have the power to affect the lives of not only those around me, but also those lives in Boston or anywhere else, I would hope that my actions have a positive outcome for everyone. So what should I do? Worry about every single action I perform or word that I utter? That would be not only be stressful, but totally impractical.
I don’t know exactly how to say what we should do, but I’ll try to put it in an example: If Person A smiles at Person B, Person B is likely to also pass on the smile to Person C, who will then pass it on to Persons D and E, and so on. Unfortunately, the same pattern applies to a situation wherein Person A unnecessarily yells at Person B, who will be likely to do the same to Person C.
Obviously, none of us has the ability to see into the future and determine the effects of our initial actions. Consequently, all we can do is to perform the action we feel is best for a particular situation and hope for the best.
What do you think of this?
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