Monday, May 23, 2005

Bad Timing, Bad Consequences, Bad Butterfly Effect

One of life’s stressors has got to be bad timing. You meet a potential significant other and find out he / she is married, engaged or into someone else. You back your car out of a parking spot and into the side of another car. You’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Various wars are another example of the wrong place / wrong time phenomena. You take a vacation at a lovely location that has a future tsunami. Anyway you get the picture. Sometimes, you make a decision based on the say so of someone, who on the surface, appears to be carrying a full load. A classic example is the eating of the apple in the Garden Of Eden. Satan comes along and casts some doubt, " Did God actually say you mustn’t eat any fruit in the garden??" The text is to the effect that God, being reasonable and the creator of the Garden Of Eden, wouldn’t put anything harmful in it. The subtext is "You must be really stupid to think that God would have made that statement." Satan then goes on to say " God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it." The text is to the effect that God’s going to open your eyes anyway, so why not now as opposed to later??? The subtext is to the effect that God isn’t going to get mad at you for showing / having some initiative. Of course, God is mad at you and tosses you out. So what actually happened??? Why did Adam and Eve eat the apple??? Was it that Adam and Eve wanted to be like God??? Were Adam and Eve really thinking ??? Were Adam and Eve just curious??? Were Adam and Eve ignoring instructions??? Did God, as Manager of The Garden Of Eden, effectively communicate to his subordinates the consequences of eating the apple??? Should God have carried the can in this instance as a part of his / her management function / style and forgiven Adam and Eve. Is God operating in a hierarchical autocratic management style that should have been collaborative and organized around teamwork?? What say you MBA student / University School Of Management / Business???? The Bad Butterfly Effect is that the rest of us are carrying the can because of either Adam and Eve’s failure to follow adequately expressed instructions or alternately Management’s fit of pique. Do you think it is fair????

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