“The Butterfly Effect” is not about an actual butterfly influencing weather across the world. It came about when meteorologist Edward Lorenz, who discovered in the 1960's that tiny, butterfly—scale changes to the starting point of his computer weather models resulted in anything from sunny skies to violent storms—with no way to predict in advance what the outcome might be.
Still the term is a wonderful way to explain the consequences of small actions and how they can impact us all. Our tiny gestures can mean much more to one another than we know.
We cannot know what our words and actions will do to help. If that person who treats you badly in public is treated kindly by you, perhaps he will not go home and strike his child with left-over anger. Perhaps the child will do or say something that makes him laugh, and he will have a moment of clarity. Perhaps the child will grow up and not strike his own children.
Greeting a stranger with kindness might mean that person, having felt all alone, will carry a feeling of being connected in this time of so much disconnect. Yes, we are “our brother’s keepers”- we do bear responsibility for each interaction.
And in the war of the masks, nothing is more disarming than for anger to be met with concern and kindness. Remember your early years when “Please” and “Thank You” and respect were the most important lessons you learned?
The butterfly effect can be used every moment – being aware of what we do and knowing the potential consequences of those deeds. The smallest step taken can change the course of life completely.
An act of kindness allows for another and another and links all of us in unimaginable ways.
So, simply put, if putting on a mask protects just one person, you could be saving the world entire.
Perhaps that person will find a cure for cancer, lead the world to peace. Maybe they will plant a garden where butterflies visit, and small children chase them in the sunlight in a world that is free of this pandemic. Maybe they will simply decide to wear a mask that one time when they also save another life.
You just never know.
(Photos are my own- most taken at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens)