Cause and Effect

Posted by S on Dec 17, 2012 in S Posts | 4 comments

The sand on the nearby Aegean beach has a curious surface tension to it.  The pressure of a footstep is too much for the crust to bear, and as a foot falls, dozens of holes appear surrounding the step.  Action/reaction. Cause and effect.  Holes, some tiny and some large, intended or not.

We’ve often tried to impress on the boys how our own actions nearly always affect others, directly or indirectly.  When you drum on the townhouse wall, you will likely disturb the French neighbors.  If you run screaming into a flock of pigeons (even though it sounds like fun), chances are that one of them will fly up into the face of that elderly woman passing by.  Don’t shake your wet hands onto the kitchen floor because someone will step in the puddle in their socks, AGAIN.

Most of my harping has to do with avoiding negative effects on others.

But I am hoping and trusting that goodness spreads this way, too — that one person’s benevolence and encouragement and joy can have a wide-reaching and life-giving effect.  Unfortunately, it seems like the positive indirect consequences are harder to see.  I want to seek out these opportunities more actively in the next few months. What good little holes in the crust can we set off as a family?  What footprint of hope or healing?