Ever spend your time resolving issues you didn’t expect to face, largely because of something else you did? I have, and I’d be surprised if I were the only one.
My most recent example was a frustrating one. Before heading out of town in late April, I planted a small plot of sweet corn in my garden. It was a little early in the year and this Spring was a cool one, but I took the risk. Upon return three weeks later, a promising stand of green greeted me. As usual, I sprayed the weeds mixed in with the first planting. A few days later when I returned to check on the progress, I discovered that my corn had shriveled and died. It was almost as though it had never existed. Puzzled, I placed my hope in the second planting. Perhaps it would be adequate. Unfortunately, it suffered the same fate.
Further investigation revealed that the mixture I had used to eradicate the weeds was of a different composition than expected. Same brand as usual, but with a couple of additional ingredients I failed to notice. One or both of those did not play well with corn. So, planting number three went in the ground in late June. Time will tell how it fares; there may be no corn this year. If there is none, I have no one to blame but myself. I meant well, but . . .
I know – some may think to themselves that this nothing more than a first world problem. Perhaps, but whatever world it represents, it is my problem. Why reflect on a relatively unimportant activity? Not simply to air my mistakes or give early warning to my friends that there may be no “candy on a cob” to share this year. Within this scenario is a snapshot representative of a large part life: Good plan. Good intentions. Hard work in an effort to be responsible and contribute to the success of the project. Even so, unintended consequences join, and in some cases ruin, the party. Expect the unexpected, they say – as though that even is possible, since a thing ceases to be unexpected once it is expected (maybe that is the point?). Life’s journey is heavily littered with unintended consequences, many of which go unnoticed, but some of which reshape the routes we take.
When I arrived as dean of ESR, the faculty and staff had a practice of taking a morning break together around 10 a.m. and another in the afternoon at 3ish. Supposedly 15 minutes in length, it was lighthearted and quite effective as a means of community-building within the group. But 15 minutes often turned into 30.
My schedule was typically tight with various meetings or phone calls. Following the standard practiced there, a typical day had me work from 8-10, break until 10:15 or so, stop again at 11:20 for community worship. That was followed by lunch from noon to 1. In the afternoon, I worked 1-3, before taking a break that, if it extended to 3:30 or later, essentially shot the rest of the day. Like a good team player, I dutifully followed that schedule until it became apparent that it was not conducive to my productivity. After considerable thought, I sent a memo to the group stating that I found it difficult to do the work I was hired to do while following that schedule. I would no longer participate regularly in those break periods. I was not asking anyone else to stop. In fact, I encouraged them to continue so long as their work was completed as expected.
Several weeks later, I entered the building shortly after 3 and saw the receptionist at her desk. My assistant was busy in her office. I asked “No break today?” While it hadn’t fallen completely out of practice, it turns out several in the group had followed my example. It turns out that leaders lead by example, even when they do not intend to do so. I hadn’t completely snuffed out the breaktime spirit, but my decision had had an unintentional effect on the communal practice. (Though in this case some of us became more efficient in our responsibilities!)
One more example, mainly because it makes me smile when I remember it. The first Quaker meeting where I served as pastor had an annual tradition on Labor Day Sunday. On that day, members ditched their Sunday bests (back when Sunday bests were the norm!) and were encouraged to wear their work clothes to the worship service. It was a means of acknowledging the various ways we earned a living and contributed to the community. Factory workers in jeans and T-shirts, farmers perhaps in bib overalls, office workers in business casual and so on – whatever dress went with their professions was represented on Sunday morning.
I wanted to honor the tradition and participate along with everyone else. On weekends I was their pastor, but during the week I was a full-time student. So, I dressed to represent both parts of my life. From the waist up, I had a dress shirt, necktie, and sports jacket. Down below, I dressed in shorts and flipflops, as I often wore to class on those hot September days. I thought it was an ingenious idea, but a little murmur could be heard among the men who always gathered on the front lawn before the service began. As I passed by, I heard some wondering aloud if they should allow me to speak dressed in such a fashion. No one confronted me directly, but the next year the practice quietly disappeared. Unintended consequences. I aimed to participate and celebrate, but seem to have had a different effect.
Truth be told, unintended consequences are a mixed bag. Play Dough was created as wall paper cleaner, but later resulted in a children’s toy that has been entertaining youngsters for longer than I can remember. The microwave was invented because someone noticed the chocolate bar in their pocket melted when placed near magnets. We have Cornflakes because someone left out a batch of boiled grain too long, which they then decided to bake. Penicillin was discovered by accident, yet it revolutionized medicine and saved countless lives.
With some unintended consequences, we have to deal with both the good and the not-so-good. Some have noted that while the automobile improved transportation and stretched the boundaries of our world, it also made urban sprawl more easily possible and allowed family members to relocate further away, which in turn has an impact on family relationships. Or consider social media. How incredible is it to be able to reconnect with long lost friends or to more easily stay informed about their lives? But with it also came privacy issues and a bucketful of unhealthy behaviors we’d just as soon do without. I doubt any of those were part of the original motivations for these innovations. But still, we now live with their effect and consequences.
It would seem that unintended consequences are one of the results of simply living. They are part of the price of innovation. So much is beyond our control, there is no possibility that everything goes exactly as and only as we intended. The firecrackers in one family’s backyard spooks the dogs three houses down, who then escape their fence in fear and run. Two blocks down the road a car swerves to miss the running animal and so on. All because someone was having fun with fireworks, well within the local customs of celebrating a holiday.
In the face of that undeniable reality, how shall we proceed? For starters, expect the unexpected. Even though I don’t think that exactly works out logically, it does suggest that we could be expectant that things may not go as anticipated, and therefore be less rattled when that is the case. Second, transcend focus solely on yourself and attempt to see the bigger picture. Think about what you are about to do and how it may affect others. Given that effect, should you adjust your plans? We can’t anticipate every consequence, but we can approach life with a bit of humility, flexibility, and a willingness to adapt when it is useful. That alone could drastically improve things for all of us.
None of this gets my corn back, but it does put it in a different perspective. And, I have learned a few things this year that should benefit my efforts next time around. And, even thought it is not the same, If all else fails, there is always the local farmer’s market.
