Even Butterflies Can Cause Chaos

Thoughts are like butterflies that flutter through your mind, fragile and fleeting.

So incredibly ethereal are they, that to capture every detail of their delicate creation is almost an impossibility.

Three of these gorgeous ‘butterflies’ visited me in quick succession last month, perfectly formed as complete, utterly brilliant ideas, emerging from their chrysalises ready to reveal their immense beauty to the world.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they would have changed my life dramatically if, and this is a very big ‘if’, I could have possibly remembered what they were. Distracted at the crucial moment of recall, the little ‘creatures’ dissolved into the recesses of my mind and the details were lost forever.

Although thoughts may be fragile, actions have consequences of an altogether larger magnitude and, according to the hypothesis of the Chaos Theory, a butterfly is capable of causing a hurricane on the other side of the world with a single flap of its wings.

Last week something happened which took me utterly and completely by surprise, deeply upsetting my world and that of those close to me.

Monty Python may believe that “nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition,” with the element of surprise as their chief weapon, but even though I try to expect the unexpected, this recent event was not something that I could have reasonably predicted or prevented.

Although the ‘perpetrator’ certainly had no malicious intentions, I suddenly realised how my open and sensitive approach to life could leave me exposed and vulnerable, and how even the most unwitting of actions can easily have catastrophic consequences.

I now carry a notepad and pencil to capture those fluttering ideas as soon as they appear. Protection against chaos, however, is another matter and caution should be exercised by everyone when considering when and where to flap those butterfly wings.

Today the end of the world may have been expected by some with the expiration of the Mayan calendar but, when it does eventually happen, I suspect that a butterfly may well be responsible for it.