The windshield and the rock
Dec. 20th, 2007 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pjthompsonI was listening this morning to an interview with Tom Hanks and Mike Nicholls on their new black comedy, Charlie Wilson's War, which is based on real events. Charlie Wilson was a Texas congressman who in the 1980s finagled and maneuvered funding to support the mujahideen in their war against the Soviets in Afghanistan—with the help of a CIA operative, a socialite, and the "most famous belly dancer in Houston." What I found particularly fascinating was the notion of how many unanticipated consequences sprang from that action. Nicholls and Hanks said was the point of their movie, how we never know what the consequences of any of our actions will be. Two of the biggest from Charlie Wilson's war: the end of the Cold War and 9/11.
You see, the Soviets were so weakened by their defeat in Afghanistan that it bankrupted them. They could no longer hold their conquered and fractured states together, so the Soviet Union broke apart, and their client states in Eastern Europe, left to their own devices, said to hell with you and went their own way, too. This has led to so many ripples in this world, most arguably good, I think, but some very bad, very bad indeed—and none of them truly anticipated.
And 9/11? Well, of course, the guy leading the mujahideen in Afghanistan was Osama bin Laden. He took Charlie Wilson's money so he could beat the Soviets, all the while hating us and hoping for the day when he could do the same to the West. I can't think of much good that came of 9/11. Maybe your perspective is different from mine.
I found myself wondering: if we had an accurate crystal ball and could have prevented 9/11 by keeping the millions of people in the Eastern Bloc under Soviet repression and domination, by continuing the dirty, covert Cold War that affected millions of more lives around the globe, should we—could we, would we—have done it? Three thousand lives precious to their friends and family. Millions of lives precious to their friends and family. There aren't any easy answers. And what unanticipated consequences would come of those actions?
I found myself thinking: you never know how the glass is going to splinter until the rock hits the windshield. The flaws inherent in the glass are invisible to the eye until the rock is thrown. Every moment of our lives, every decision, is a rock hitting a windshield with impact patterns splintering in all directions. We can't refuse to make decisions, because our refusal to decide also has unanticipated consequences.
Much hilarity has been made of Bush declaring himself to be The Decider. But you know what? We're all The Deciders. We just don't see such a clear-cut consequence of most of our decisions. Reality is a consensus web made up of all our attitudes and decisions. The answer is not to hide in a black hole and refuse to participate. It seems to me the answer is to act mindfully, and try to remember that everything matters.
Everything.
You see, the Soviets were so weakened by their defeat in Afghanistan that it bankrupted them. They could no longer hold their conquered and fractured states together, so the Soviet Union broke apart, and their client states in Eastern Europe, left to their own devices, said to hell with you and went their own way, too. This has led to so many ripples in this world, most arguably good, I think, but some very bad, very bad indeed—and none of them truly anticipated.
And 9/11? Well, of course, the guy leading the mujahideen in Afghanistan was Osama bin Laden. He took Charlie Wilson's money so he could beat the Soviets, all the while hating us and hoping for the day when he could do the same to the West. I can't think of much good that came of 9/11. Maybe your perspective is different from mine.
I found myself wondering: if we had an accurate crystal ball and could have prevented 9/11 by keeping the millions of people in the Eastern Bloc under Soviet repression and domination, by continuing the dirty, covert Cold War that affected millions of more lives around the globe, should we—could we, would we—have done it? Three thousand lives precious to their friends and family. Millions of lives precious to their friends and family. There aren't any easy answers. And what unanticipated consequences would come of those actions?
I found myself thinking: you never know how the glass is going to splinter until the rock hits the windshield. The flaws inherent in the glass are invisible to the eye until the rock is thrown. Every moment of our lives, every decision, is a rock hitting a windshield with impact patterns splintering in all directions. We can't refuse to make decisions, because our refusal to decide also has unanticipated consequences.
Much hilarity has been made of Bush declaring himself to be The Decider. But you know what? We're all The Deciders. We just don't see such a clear-cut consequence of most of our decisions. Reality is a consensus web made up of all our attitudes and decisions. The answer is not to hide in a black hole and refuse to participate. It seems to me the answer is to act mindfully, and try to remember that everything matters.
Everything.