A closer look at The Butterfly effect- how your life matters.
My parents got these small books at a point in my childhood. Mostly stories filled with inspiration. Two days ago, while sulking in the face of a lot I had to juggle (which frankly no one sent me but the madam in me…), I came across one of them.
It felt like a good way to doodle the afternoon as PHCN had struck again. No, my dears, I read books, but TV is more fun for a lazy afternoon. Anyway, back to my story. This book is barely 110 pages and, in fact, some pages have just pictures and as little as 14 words. Yet the amazing thing is, in the scarcity of words, the author passed on such profound ideas.
Andy Andrews (the author) started with the explanation of a laughed off idea, “The butterfly effect”. I’m sure you’re curious, so I’ll cut to the chase. It was a hypothesis by Edward Lorenz in 1963.
According to Lorenz, “a butterfly could flap its wings and set molecules of air in motion, which would move other molecules of air, in turn moving more molecules of air — eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet”
I don’t have to be a member of the New York Academy of Sciences (where he presented his intriguing idea) to have laughed at it. A tiny, harmless butterfly causing a hurricane? Ok, sir. It remained an idea used by fiction and other stories until about 30 years later when other physics professors concluded it was accurate (science and its ever-changing conclusions).
If you’re wondering where I’m heading then it means you’re still with me (yay!).
I felt like I was placed in front of Andy and asking him, “Sir, what has this got to do with me or how my life matters?” Just then, he introduced to me (via the book, I haven’t met him… yet) a man called Chamberlain. This man won a battle that was already deemed lost. How? By charging his 80-man army.
“Charge! Charge! Charge!”
The men were so charged in spirits they moved on. Even though they knew they would lose their lives, something about the way Chamberlain shouted encouraged them. More like what we would call “ginger”. You know those days when we read because we were motivated by our classmates? Yes, something like that. Thankfully, the only difference is we don’t have a 400-man army ahead of us as those soldiers did.
What made the difference from almost losing to victory? Chamberlain’s charge. What makes this more interesting a story? Historians have shown that this school teacher’s action is the reason the US could stand in the breach when Hilter swept across Europe. Andrews mentioned other examples in the book that emphasized the point, I won’t be a ‘party pooper’ by sharing all the details.
For instance, in school, you learn a concept. You share it with your friends, and they share it with their friends, and the cycle continues. Somehow you’ve been able to influence others and pass on something worthwhile.
I think it’s important to remember this as we live our lives. You don’t take action in solitude, every choice made in leisure, or for a cause or whatever will affect the choices that will be available in times ahead.
I like how Andy said in the near end, “there are generations yet unborn whose very lives will be shifted and shaped by the moves you make and the actions you take today. And tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.”
This brings to me to how Jesus would have looked at the cross. When he prayed in John 17, he must have thought of us- His beloved. His action wasn’t just for that moment. It was for now and more generations to come (if He tarries).
My point? This concept isn’t new. It may have been coined after 1963, but it has always and will always exist. Why do we study? Why do we work? Why do we help? Why do we rest?
It’s not just about taking actions, but taking them with purpose because your life matters.
