The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect: The theory that a single occurrence, no matter how small can create a drastic change in the universe: In 1961, Edward Lorenz was using a numerical computer model to rerun a weather prediction, when, as a shortcut on a number in the sequence, he entered the decimal .506 instead of entering the full .506127. The result was a completely different weather scenario. One meteorologist remarked that if the theory were correct, "one flap of a seagull's wings could change the course of weather forever." Following suggestions from colleagues, in later speeches and papers Lorenz used the more poetic butterfly. Wikipedia.

I thought about this concept in relation to our actions and decisions, however slight or insignificant we may think they are, how much can they affect us daily, those around us, and the next generation. How much power can one action be in changing our future or the lives of those we come in contact with every day?

I heard a story about a very distraught young man who had planned take his own life because he felt like his life did not matter to anyone. That day someone smiled and spoke a kind word to him. He went home and threw away the suicide note he had already written that morning. That one act saved that young man's life, the lives of his children yet to be born, and saved his family the sorrow from losing their son. I believe many of us have unknowingly played a part in changing a life by just doing what we do everyday, and yet maybe in doing so brought a change in someone else's life.

We all have the power within us to act and react to situations that come into our lives every day. An unkind word, an an unwise decision in our finances, a purchase made in haste. We have all seen the effects divorce has in a family, upon their children and to the grandchildren. You can make a difference. Today, lives will be touched, changed, caught up in a chain of events begun by you the moment you woke up.

Your life.. And what you choose do with it today...matters forever.