perfect interaction

"Every choice we make
And every road we take
Every interaction
Starts a chain reaction
We're both affected
When we least expect it
And then when we touched
And it all connected"
-Natasha Bedingfield

I met a new friend yesterday...and it's funny how instantly we began talking, and soon the talking became real conversing. You know, there is a difference between talking to someone and actually having a conversation. He accidentally shut down the computer we were running tests on, so it threw our last experiment off. He turned to me and said, "You know, this means we're going to be here for 3 extra minutes..I just changed your life drastically. Anything could happen now that wasn't going to had I not accidentally done that. You ever think about that? How we're all so connected and the littlest moves we make, or don't make, seriously change the world forever?" Of course, we both reasoned that while the thought is entertaining, there is really no point in contemplating the difference our actions have on the way things play out, because after all everything happens a certain way...and so everything happens as it should. There are no "what if?"s ...and that's the beauty of it. The tenuous web of interactions we're all wrapped up in somehow unravels just right all the time.

Think about who you talked to today, who you saw in person, and who you spoke with on the phone. Think about what you watched on tv, or who you chatted on facebook. Think about what you read, whether in a book or on a sign driving down the road. Think about the exact time all of those things happened, what was said, what was heard, what was observed. Had you experienced any of it at a millisecond sooner or later, it could have all affected you in a different way...and any others involved in a different way. Isn't that fascinating? Isn't it overwhelming and exhilariting all at the same time? What really gets me, and my new friend because it was all a part of the deep conversation, is that we will never know the impact our littlest actions or lack thereof have on those around us or even very far from us. Had he not accidentally shut the computer down, and had our experiment not been done about 3 minutes later, then I would have texted someone sooner, called my mom sooner, ridden in the elevator with someone else or no one at all, pulled out in front of different cars from the parking lot, and had a completely different driving pattern on the way home which affects all those other drivers on the road. It's like the ripple effect. This intricate web we're all a part of is connected so vastly, yet with perfect precision.

The more I think about this, the more it makes sense not to worry about what is over. The more it makes sense not to daydream about what could happen, or would happen, or would have happened if I had spoken sooner, or done something later...or simply said or done something that I didn't do or say. You know? There's really no point in that because there is a much bigger, more complex, absolutely beautiful system at work before us, within us, through us, by us that we will never fully understand...and it never fails.