Unknown societal effects?

[MaesDV7]

Has anyone ever wondered what effects we unknowingly cause on other people and society? Maybe by just going outside for a walk... wearing a certain article of clothing that day... buying groceries... posting on a forum... even just existing. Anything. To an extreme: what if by just existing, we have harmed someone greatly or even caused death without even knowing it... and will never know it. The same can be said for the opposite: what if we have saved someones life by just having done a mindless/everyday common action. For just one of endless examples: maybe even just by going under the speed limit while driving... and because of that, microseconds behind/ahead during a car accident could cause a fatality or save the persons life. I do not mean to produce possible negative emotional stimuli... for one will never know if anything like this has ever occurred. What do you think about this?

 

[Soulful]

Sometimes the slightest gesture someone makes, the slightest act - whether directed toward me or not - impacts me much to their unknowing. Sometimes it is because I am constantly scanning for things to seize up, to squeeze insight out of.

Naturally, I can't but wonder about the reverse.

The simple and complicated truth is that we are involved in much more than we know. This is life.

 

[arbygil]

Whether we know it or not we are all interconnected. "No man is an island" as they say, and we interact with strangers, collegues, friends, and not-so-friendly folk every day. Our words will and do impact many people; even more so now, with the invention of youtube and internet forums. People have the power from their very homes to entice people to commit suicide...and they also have the power to prevent it.

The power of words is nothing new, however. It's just in this century, at this moment in history, we have a much greater ability to impact more people at the same time than we've ever had.

 

[acd]

Sometimes I think of the people who had to work to make the shirt I'm wearing or food I'm buying.. and I wonder what their lives are like.
But not often.

 

[Jill Hives]

I try to think about this kind of thing often to encourage myself to be kind to people in day to day interactions. Even something as simple as smiling at the right person at the right moment can positively impact multiple peoples lives through a massive underlying chain reaction.

 

[yepunsarang]

Yea things like that are amazing...reminds me that little things are miracles. May be that's the sound, valid basis of me being myself and being in awe with the world the way I am.

 

[kucala]

Whether we know it or not we are all interconnected. "No man is an island" as they say, and we interact with strangers, collegues, friends, and not-so-friendly folk every day. Our words will and do impact many people; even more so now, with the invention of youtube and internet forums. People have the power from their very homes to entice people to commit suicide...and they also have the power to prevent it.

The power of words is nothing new, however. It's just in this century, at this moment in history, we have a much greater ability to impact more people at the same time than we've ever had.

This.
You cannot help but affect the people you have any interaction with, whether directly or indirectly.

 

[rawr]

yes, i've wondered what effects we have. seems socially chaos theory and butterfly effect would apply. we have no idea what consequences are actions indirectly have.

 

[middle1]

Yes I do.

Its amazing to see how small and large decisions made years ago and before we were born have such an impact on our lives and the shape and direction it takes too.

I can only hope I effect people in the right way, and make an effort to do that.

 

[Nixie]

The world is dynamic. Change is a constant. Even the most well thought out plans and designs for "good" can't be spot on or turn out for the best sometimes. We have awesome powers and wield them like children playing with our daddies gun. Part of overcoming this and making responsible choices is to understand that the world exists in a circle, everything is interconnected. There aren't easy answers and your choices have consequences.