Over this weekend I have watched two stream of consciousness movies, Babel and The Meddle, shows portraying people other than the main character being affected as a result of decisions made by the main characters or of events that happened to the main characters beyond their control.
I don't always like stream of consciousness movies, but these two showed with great impact the domino effect of decisions made by one or to one. These movies are good for showing me the application of Newton's third law of motion: for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction (when it comes to the force involved in motion). Not always applicable to life, but in many cases, yes. In this case there were equal but opposite reactions as ripple effects in many, many directions.
The movies showed me again the truth of John Donne's poem below.
John Donne
Meditation 17
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
'No man is an iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee....'
Donne's final thought above is a different application of the principle he cites from the application I am giving, but it would apply to these two movies regarding decisions people make. I forget many times to look for possible consequences in mundane decision making. I am pretty good at following threads in major decisions, but not always the mundane ones. I am grateful to have had these two reminders on a weekend designed to remind us of the ramifications of freedom in its various forms in our country.
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