Skip to main content

The Butterfly Effect


The first choice was mine. Last Wednesday I chose to leave my classroom door open while I was in a meeting.  Because of that one action on my part, so many others have had to make choices of their own. Unbeknownst to me, that same day one of my soccer players chose to keep her purse in my room – inside a wallet with $35.

The two soccer players that went to my room and saw the open purse with the protruding wallet chose to help themselves to it. Rather than split up the money they found inside while in the classroom, they chose to do it in the secrecy of the girls’ room.

The girl that walked in on the girls in the bathroom had the choice of whether to keep quiet or tell an adult. While at school, she chose to keep quiet. When she went home, she made a different choice and told her mother. In the meantime, a couple of other players were told about the theft. They chose to keep quiet and not ‘snitch’ on their friend even when the missing wallet was discovered.

After talking to her mother, the player who discovered the theft chose to listen to her mother and confess to me all that she knew before going to the principal. I chose to take it the information to the administration. In turn, the principal made the choice to spend the time to get all the stories to agree before making the choice to suspend the girls.

In turn, the mother of one of the players made the choice for her daughter's soccer career to be over. I made the choice to let the other girl stay on the team. After the team heard her letter of apology, they chose to take the team consequence of extra laps instead of arguing it.

Unfortunately, when the girls returned to school, so-called friends began to pressure them into fighting each other.  While a fight never happened, the girls made the choice to keep it going by sending inappropriate text messages rather than ignore it and ask a trusted adult for help.

Today, more choices were made. Choices to physically hold back a friend from fighting. Choices to lie to me when asked what was going on. Choices to send a student to another school. Choices to quit the team. Choices to make a phone call to ask for help to change into the person she wants to be. Choices to let the assistant coach take over practice so I could lend an ear to a player in need.

It doesn’t matter who made the choices. What matters is the choices that were made. One tiny action on my part has impacted my entire soccer team in one way or another. At this time, I do not know the end result that my decision will bring. Whatever it is, I know we are all going to learn invaluable lessons from it. I know I have learned what seems like an insignificant choice can have long-lasting effects for many people.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

An Easter Lesson

I decided that this break I was going to stay home and spend the week doing things I have not done or haven't done in awhile. It all began Thursday night with Ballroom Dancing, which will continue on Monday and Thursday with lessons. Saturday, I bought a couple of new outfits. Today brought both something I hadn't done in awhile and something new. Today, I went to church which was pretty cool in itself. I went with someone I just met the day before. (I am sure that is no surprise to any of you who know me.) We made plans to meet up at church. It was different from any church I had been in before. The chairs were set up "in the round." There was no piano or organ to accompany our singing. People were in and out throughout the 90 minute service. No surprise, the place was packed. The service was your typical protestant service, minus the organ, of course. It had been awhile since my friend had been to church. Many in the congregation flocked to him at the end to gi...

WABDR: Section 1

Section 1  We end at the beginning  Does it feel like this trip will never end? Epic adventures tend to last a bit longer than just an average one. So….on with our tale.  We got our bikes all packed up and continued over White Pass. The first time we went over it, it was a cloudy day. Thus, the visibility of the mountains was not much. I was expecting the same on our return trip to Packwood. Therefore, it took my breath away when I saw the mountain off in the distance for the first time. The beauty was so overwhelming, I teared up.    I continued to watch the mountain until I could see it no more. Soon we were in Packwood. Back where we started. After a quick breakfast at the local coffee shop, we were on our way. I may have taken a few minutes to ride the big bike first… Not too long though, because someone was ready to get moving.  Jennifer had some friends that were camping at Walupt Lake, which is right on the trail for Sectio...

The Christmas Ache

Christmas. For many it is a joyful day filled with family and good food, for others it is a struggle to get through the day.  Yesterday was my final Christmas waking up in an empty house. I don't want to do it again. The 50 plus years of waking up super early to either sneak to the tree and open my stocking or hear my kids do the same has made the silence of Christmas morning unbearable. The last four years, I have been waking up to an empty house. I had invites this year from every member of my family. I declined them for a variety of reasons, which do not matter in this piece of writing. What matters is today I talked to people who also struggled through Christmas day.  When alone, one can get caught up in one's feelings and think they are the only one going through whatever it is. In this case, being alone on Christmas. The ache inside begins. The tears flow. It doesn't help that the Hallmark channel is playing the formulaic Christmas movies. You know the one. It ...