Thread by @TheRealDoctorT

“Our lives are not our own.

From womb to tomb, we are bound to others. Past and present.

And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.”

- David Mitchell, “Cloud Atlas.”

Everything is connected.

This is a theme I’m exploring more and more in my writing. 1/

Increasingly, many of my threads are non-linear or present timelines in intersecting ways.

What might seem insignificant can end up changing everything.

Because of the way we perceive time, we are inherently disadvantaged in perceiving non-linearity. 2/

This concept has weighed heavily on my mind and it’s bleeding through into how I see the world around me. I sense its importance.

Ripples in a pond.

Seemingly inconsequential kindnesses and cruelties leading to rippling changes through the fabric of time and space. 3/

Many religions and philosophies espouse a concept, that if you kill one person it’s like you’ve killed all of humanity. And if you save a person, it’s like you saved everyone.

On one level that idea seems deceptively simple.

But dig a little, and its roots go deep. 4/

Every person is unique. Unique in their life, and all the potential lives they might lead.

We see them as static, but everyone around us is in the middle of following a trajectory with potentially infinite variation.

I know, it’s kind of kooky.

But here’s a little story... 5/

I’m walking down a sidewalk, and I see a small rock on the path. Without hesitation, I kick it out of the way to clear the route safely.

I keep walking, not even thinking about it.

But me kicking the rock out of the way just saved millions of lives.

How?

Let’s rewind. 6/

I’m walking down a sidewalk, and I see a small rock on the path. I step over it. I DON’T move it out of the way.

The next person coming down the path is an elderly gentleman carrying some groceries.

He trips on the rock.

He can’t brace himself.

He breaks his leg. 7/

The elderly gentleman ends up in the hospital with a broken leg.

One thing leads to another and unfortunately he develops a life-threatening bloodstream infection.

Despite the best efforts of the healthcare team, he dies.

He has a granddaughter.

She is devastated. 8/

Her grandfather basically raised her. Without him, she feels adrift. She has suffered from depression before, and it returns with a vengeance.

Mired in the depths of an isolating grief, her grades begin to drop and she withdraws from the world around her.

She drops out. 9/

Let’s say I DID kick the rock out of the path.

The grandfather doesn’t break his leg. He’s alive and well. He encourages his beloved granddaughter to aim for the stars and showers her with his unconditional love and support.

The years pass and she graduates from college. 10/

She becomes a virologist.

When a viral pandemic hits the world, she heads the team that discovers the vaccine that ends up ... you guessed it... saving millions of lives.

An act of kindness so small it didn’t even register, ends up altering the course of human history. 11/

Everything is connected.

No matter how distant they may seem, acts of cruelty and of kindness are birthing our future every single moment of every single day, in ways we can’t perceive.

Be kind.

The fate of us all may depend on it. 12/

(Sidenote: I’m not a philosopher, I know these ideas have been expressed more accurately and eloquently by many others.

They’re just thoughts echoing in my head late at night.

Worlds enfolded within worlds, as time speeds up, stands still, then flows in reverse.)