Connectedness

[photo from istock.com]

Sometimes, no matter how you avoid it, it will still happen. 'It' can be anything. Human connections, for example. You don't get to choose who you meet, who your parents are, who your siblings are. Those are already pre-arranged for you, whether you like it or not. You can choose who to be friends with, but you can't help being acquainted with people who come along your way. Some acquaintances can be brief and temporary, but once you know someone, you can't undo that (unless you forget them in time, that is). Which brings me to this point: whatever you do or say to others, there will be consequences, regardless of it being significant or otherwise. It may be a few encouraging words, but it may be life-transforming to the person on the receiving end. Or it may be some hurtful words that came out unintentionally, yet was taken seriously and forever scarred the person listening to it. Every day we say and/or do thousands of things to countless people around us, but we don't know what impact it has on them. Dispose the banana skin on the floor after you ate it, and some construction worker may step on it and break his back, causing him to be paralyzed and be forever bed-bound, and consequently causes him to lose his job. And who knows what may happen after that? Without insurance, his family may starve. Wife may leave him; daughter left school to take care of him, etc. etc. All this because of a reckless behavior of a person who didn't put much thought in his/her action. Not that this will inevitably happen everytime someone tosses a banana skin on the ground, but point is, there is always a cascade effect to everything we do. It's just not always obvious or visible. 

There's a Chinese saying that goes, "Think thrice before you do anything". It's definitely good advice that everyone should heed.