Cause and Effect

What Matters Most…                                   Commentary by Jim High

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect are two words that always go together.  It is something we learn at a very early age.  Who has not put their finger on a hot stove, your tongue on a cold ice tray or climbed too high in a favorite tree.   Young children know when they are being bad (cause) and soon learn some form of punishment (effect) will result.

As young children we are learning everything about life, and we learn well the cause and effect relationship of our individual actions.  We even learn how to do the right things that get us the good effects we want and crave.   Good or bad, every cause (the thing we do) has an effect (the thing we get).  It is one of the natural laws of the Universe, just as sure as gravity.

But as we grow older and have more obligations, relationships, people in our lives, jobs, and yes problems, we seem to forget the Law of Cause and Effect is always operating in our lives.  Cause is still all those things we do, but we have lost the understanding we had as children; everything we do has a resulting effect.  And for sure we adults forget we can always get the effects we want by controlling the things we do in our daily lives.

People respond better to care and concern than they do to indifference and disinterest.  A smile goes a lot farther than a frown.  Something as simple as holding the door open for the person entering behind you always creates a special felling between the two of you.  These are little things, but the Law of Cause and Effect works just the same for big things too.  The really important thing to remember is that this law works equally well in both direction.  Do good, get good results, or do bad, get bad results.  It’s up to you.

Here’s a test any of you can try yourself.  A few Saturday’s ago as I was going up to the Mall, the traffic was very heavy and for some reason the idea came to me that I was going to relax and drive as if everyone else had the right of way, and I would assist everyone I could on this trip.  Almost immediately a lady was trying to pull out into traffic.  I stopped and let her in front of me.  She smiled and waived a finger as a measure of thanks for this very small kindness.  A little further along and it happened again, and I began to feel that I was on a mission.  With each successive person that I let into traffic in front of me, not only did I get a thank you nod from them, but also I got this great feeling inside of me.

I figure my trip to Home Depot took me at most three extra minutes.  I helped five other people during that short time, but the way I felt as I got out of my car and entered the store is a feeling I will never forget, which is why I can tell you about it now.  Cause and effect works every time.

What matters most………………. is for all of us to regain the wisdom of our childhood.  We can actually create the lives we want to live.  Every action, decision, thought we have is a cause.  We are the cause, not the effect.   It takes just an instant to do the right thing, the correct thing, the nice thing for someone else, but the effect of that action can change your life forever.

© 2008 #7 Jim High can be reached at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS 38802-0467