Tuesday August 24, 2004

Connections

Today I have been thinking about connections. Connections between people. Between events.

As I often tend to do, I will open with a bit of a story.

I have two dogs, one of which I introduced in my entry on Friday's entry. Heidi (or tiny fat dog) is a deaf cattle dog who is afraid of people to a degree, probably because she is deaf. The other dog, Tazz, is also a cattle dog. But Tazz is afraid of dogs. His story is that he got attacked by a pack of dogs when he was very young.

These two dogs and their issues make for exciting times when I take them for walks together. I can deal with either one of them separately by either going a route that isn't populated by dogs or by telling people not to try to pet my dog if they show interest. But together these dogs make a very interesting pair.

One day I was walking both dogs together when I came across two dogs that were loose. The dogs came near, and Tazz ran to my leg and started barking wildly. Heidi saw this situation and ran out on the leash as far as I would let her and held the two other dogs at bay. In this configuration, we had achieved at least a stability that I was fairly comfortable with.

Momentarily, the owner of the other two dogs approached. I was really quite happy with how things had worked out so far, but this occurance threatened to throw a wrench in the works for me.

Heidi saw the owner approaching and backed away - closer to me. The other two dogs ran to their owner, and Tazz went out on the leash to meet the approaching person and to protect Heidi. Ahhh. Another comfortable balance.

An interesting dance in the cosmic irony that brought us all together - two people, two sets of two dogs, two fears, and a comfortable balance.

This story makes me consider how the things that I do may make others react. That sometimes the things I say might have enough influence to affect change in someone else's existence. That maybe in some odd way I have saved lives or unwittingly lead to the formation of great ideas, or at the very least perhaps I have improved the lives of others in some measurable way.

As an example, I was talking to a friend who's wife was considering getting a bumper sticker. After reading my piece on bumper stickers, she decided not to get one. I had no idea that this was even going on, but I still played a small role in a decision that could possibly change the future of several people and their car. Ok, so that's probably a stretch. I don't expect that I have saved lives here, but at least I feel that my friend and his wife are safer today than they might otherwise be.

We are all connected in some way. It was Einstein that presented the singular thought that "Everything is moving". This brilliant idea applies not only to heavenly bodies and frames of reference, but also to people. As individuals, our situations and conditions are in constant flux.

Everyone lives at the edge of their own personal event horizon - that fine space between choice and decision, between now and the immediate future, between option and consequence. This is the space that advertisers aim to control. They wish to manipulate buying decisions and make them habit. Part of the background radiation of life.

Information in whatever form that is present at the time that a person makes a decision can change the outcome of that decision. A simple thing. But that single decision sets up a reality for subsequent decisions. And many of the small decisions that people make influence the decisions of other people. A cosmic cascade of matter falling into place like a domino train of incomprehensible scale. An ocean of event horizons reacting to an idea skipping across their respective surfaces.

Personal change begins with a single decision. Community change begins with the sharing of a single decision. We are all connected, so you have more influence than you might think.