One flap of a wing

You have most probably seen the movie Butterfly Effect. This phrase means that a butterfly’s wings might create tiny changes that ultimately cause a tornado to appear or prevent a tornado from appearing. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale event. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different.

I saw this movie a long time ago, but recently it has stuck in my head. The tagline is change one thing, change everything. We all have moments in life when we wish we could change something, we wish we would have done differently. Right a wrong. Correct a mistake. Gain love... In the movie it becomes possible. In real life however, once we lose a chance, it’s gone. A small choice or a decision in an ordinary day could have made a big difference, could have turned your life to a completely different direction. Whether it would be for better or worse, only universe would know, but the fact is lots of special moments in life are lost because we think too much instead of asking, we are too busy being afraid instead of daring, or worse, we often fail to look into other’s eyes and speak our mind and heart.

Usually we realise these moments afterwards, when it’s too late to go back, when the moment is lost. And we realise it was a big mistake. Sometimes we believe in the greater power of the universe and say it was meant to be and it will work out better in the end. That’s because we can never really know what could have been. We don’t have that chance like in the movie and therefore we must always look at the positive side of events. I prefer it that way, but sometimes, just sometimes, a small doubt remains...

What if our lives are determined by a flap of a wing? Can a seemingly small decision in a random day really become that impactful and life changing?