A Look Towards 2022: Be A Butterfly Sons

Hey boys…Have you heard of the “Butterfly Effect…”

No, not the movie mom talks about. Not the one where, then teen heartthrob Ashton Kutcher, delivered an incredible “Oscar like” performance (JK).

The other one, or I mean, the mathematical and meteorological concept…”Butterfly Effect”. It was good old Edward Lorenz who lay claim to an unwieldy concept that either scared or comforted most in his field. The concept is designed to help explain “chaos” or the randomness of all those very complex and unanswerable questions you guys ask me all the time!

This “Butterfly Effect” thing I’m talking about, in summary, says…every little small change in nature leads to significantly different outcomes. It tries to explain or at least help prepare for the unexplainable. Tornados, chemical reactions, economy…MY LIFE, YOUR LIFE.

I know you’re thinking…a butterfly flapping it’s wings somewhere in Oregon a month ago, somehow has an effect on a tornado in the plains of Missouri tomorrow? But what about Daddy’s friend who died this year? Or our neighbor, uncle, and several other loved ones we lost in 2021? Or what about a second straight year of being in isolation during Christmas? Or $4+ gas Daddy complains about? Us having a safe home and that lady living on the highway? What helps explain this chaos?

Stay with me here kids…“history lesson alert”. Prohibition era. On the outside looking in, there’s this single event - one that outlaws the sale and transportation of intoxicating liquor in the United States. The 18th amendment to the United States Constitution. It seems simple - a lot of men in those days were drunk and very unhealthy, hurting their families, losing their wages, the nation finally had another way to fund itself care of the 16th amendment ratified just 8 years before. Result…Outlaw drinking once and for all! In isolation an incredibly noble, maybe moral, and encouraging American idea.

The “patterns of chaos” start with what we do right now, in this moment

But aha, The Butterfly Effect huh? Life before the 1920s wasn’t great for everyone but those drunk men at least had jobs yeah? The crooked politicians were crooked but they weren’t total criminals. There were gangs, but there wasn’t the scale of organized crime. I guess the point is…in isolation…prohibition seemed just and right. In context however, prohibition dramatically reshaped American life as we know it. Entire families became “criminals”, that otherwise could have been well fairing immigrants. The Great Depression. Organized crime became a stable of US life. Drinking actually rose and became an even stronger part of American behavior and source of wealth (bravo Adolphus Busch!). We’re left to wonder…

Wonder what to make of what will be 2022. What is to come in a new year - a symbolic, manufactured, and commercialized marker of a new time? What small yet impactful turns within your years of life, the countless years of life and nature before us, carve the road ahead?

Daddy isn’t smart enough to try to calculate it all, or tell you how to build some “new year new me” plan. And maybe that’s ok because life happens in the present. The “patterns of chaos” start with what we do right now, in this moment. What ever happens tomorrow, next week, next month, etc… all begins with what is happening at this very second. Maybe 2022 is another pandemic year, maybe the “chip shortage finally ends!”, maybe…maybe dad gets another fancy job or even loses my job in 2022…who the hell knows? The wings are flapping NOW sons. We can’t waste time wondering if the tornado may or may not happen next week. Making the most of today, the NOW, the present, the “What You Can Actually See” - is a goal I want you to set and am excited for you both to be butterflies flying in the chaos of it all.

Love Dad