A comment by Farooq Omar initiated the seed idea of this post. He wrote that the effort needed to change direction is similar to a driver changing the steering from the right to the left. Rached ALIMI then followed with a precious comment. He wrote, “Man sees only one aspect of things without grasping the harmony at all, which arises from movement, discord, and conflict”. This comment added greatly to my interest to share this post.
The words from right to left reminded me of optical molecular isomers. These molecules look similar as your right and left palms. They only differ in one small thing in one turns the polarized light to right and the other to the left.
Small deceptively for under this sly difference resides huge effects. It is the iceberg of the small difference hiding underneath cunning effects. We must also consider the harmony of the system.
You may recall thalidomide. This was a drug discovered in the fifties and pregnant women could buy from the counters to treat morning sickness. Few years later many women delivered babies with deformed limbs. Research blamed the isomer that turned optical light to the left was responsible for all these limb problems. In contrast, the isomer that turned polarized light to the right was innocent of such a crime.
Turning the “steering” of some molecules to the right or left is effortless, but may cause dreadful results.
There are many examples in real life that carry the same principle.
One more example is adding hot oil to water or adding water to hot oil. This small reverse of the order of addition may cause fires and terrible deformations. Never add cold water to hot oil because an explosion or chaotic and violent scattering of the mix shall result.
One other example is self-awareness. Dr. Laila Alwan commented on a recent post of mine “Awareness is like zooming out from the problem. The more we zoom out, the smaller the problem will look”.
Zooming out versus zooming in may seem a simple act, but in reality produces big differences. If we zoom in the problem, it appears bigger and freezes us with its size. An analogy is a fly looking in a zooming mirror it looks bigger and the fly gets scared and flies away.
One more example comes from a comment of Harvey Lloyd. He alerted us that “winning is a matter of heart and not strength”.
This applies to businesses. If they shift the steering from focusing on customers’ hearts rather than the businesses’ own strengths, they shall win the hearts of the customers and the businesses shall blossom with success.
A final example is from life. A smile is always welcome, but be wary of smiling wolves. If you see wolf fangs, do not think that the lion is smiling. Beware of smiling fangs.
I think you can add random acts of kindness as small things that may turn out to have huge effects, Ali.
The pandemic has activated a lot of people into being more aware of their neighbors and to how much difference it makes in their own isolated day that people nod, say hi, offer to shop or bring medicine. They may take this knowledge with them for a long time.
At the same time, because more people are more aware of the importance of feeling connected, the social movements of the sharing economy may get an easier foothold.
If we feel more connected by participating in the sharing economy, the need for showing off new purchases may change, giving may become more important than getting.
Oops, we just changed the world.
You are spot on, Charlotte. Mall acts of kindness during difficult times have even more lasting effect than at ordinary times. A kind gesture in need looks much larger than in times of little need.
You remind me of a poor man and if he finds a coin he feels so happy. If a rich man sees the coin on the ground it would be worthless for him.These times are are in need of the coin of kindness and it shall make us very grateful and stay with us for long times.