The Arrow and the Song

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This poem makes me think of unintended consequences.  Tiny decisions can make a big difference.  What if the oak had been chopped down before he shot the arrow?  How many people had been blessed by that song before it nestled into a willing heart?  Did anyone see the arrow fly by and wonder who sent it?

I have recently come across a real-life example of this.  A co-worker told me that his great-great-grandfather decided to travel to Canada way back in 1912.  In April, 1912.  He wanted to go on the Titanic because of all the hype around this new amazing super ship.  Unfortunately, he couldn't quite afford the ticket.  Even the third-class ticket was too much, so he bought one for the next ship going the same way.

If he had been a little richer, as my co-worker said, he would probably have gone down with the ship.  And if he had gone down with the ship, my co-worker would never have been born.

It's a little scary.  Thinking about how your single, unimportant choice might affect dozens of people makes it easy to freeze up and make no decisions at all, just in case.  But have no fear - these sorts of consequences cannot be prevented or avoided.  Even making the opposite decision would just set off a whole new set of  unknowable and unexpected consequences. 

Think instead that your decisons, and indeed your existance, is simply part of the endless colourful cavalcade that is the march of human history.  Your decisions become part of the parade.  It's still terrifying, but it's also significant and...somehow...rather beautiful.