Ambiguity and the Butterfly Effect
November 6, 2010 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Health and Happiness, Synchronicity
Thursday night when I was driving home on the freeway, something caught my eye. I looked, thought, debated and finally took the next exit to circle back. There was a cat in a narrow section of grassy median between the ten lanes of 60 mph traffic. It was clearly alive and unhurt but that didn’t seem like it would last too long. Naturally it didn’t want to be rescued by me when I pulled over and braved the center shoulder (probably not the smartest thing on my part) so… I called 911. It felt extremely foolish to call for a cat on a freeway but they did take it seriously. I will never know what happened to it – it was very young. Was it rescued? Did it run into traffic? Did a hawk take it first? I really dislike not knowing and it still feels a little like I’ve become an official crazy cat lady to have made the effort. So why did I? Because as I drove past the first time I realized how I would feel about myself if I didn’t try. Nobody else even seemed to notice it in the 20 minutes it took me to return to that spot. The odds weren’t good for a happy outcome, but do odds really impact our decisions to help? I hope not. I don’t expect to ever know that cat’s fate but I’m still hoping it turned out well.
It’s made me realize how many things we don’t do because we won’t know the end result – ever. But surely something changes in the universe when we make the attempt. The Butterfly Effect is that notion that the smallest imperceptible change will set great things in motion. I’d like to think that my reluctant willingness to appear foolish will do that, but it never seems to make it easier.
