Dominos of life

Last Sunday my family decided to set up dominoes. We had a blast thinking up different structures to use. We use different marbles, blocks, tubes, etc. to create a series of reactions.

The more we played, the more I thought about the systems of life. Life isn’t as perfectly set up as the dominoes but in many ways follows the same pattern.

When something happens in life, it creates a new opportunity. Whether it leaves a void or a new surplus, life will quickly adapt and regenerate.

After a forest fire, plants regrow. When a business finds success, others will naturally try to emulate them to grow their own profits.

I read a quote recently on Facebook that said something to the effect of, “When you die your company will have you replaced and forgotten within weeks.”

All the efforts and sacrifices we make for the job, and it will get over us almost instantly. Even when we create a lasting legacy, it really doesn’t last. It will take on a life of its own.

Think about historical figures. All of us probably think we know what Abraham Lincoln was like. But nobody alive has ever spoken to him or interacted with him. The Lincoln that we all think we know has been adjusted through years and years of tweaks by people that don’t really know him.

Another interesting fact that was shared with me was that a study was conducted that found that the average funeral has 10 people cry.

It went on to say that the biggest factor as to whether people will attend the burial after the funeral was the weather. If it was raining, 50% would not even attend the burial.

It made me think how small we are in the world and how worried we all get about stuff that probably won’t matter in the long run. In 200 years, nobody will be alive who is alive today. Those who wronged you will be long gone. Those who helped you will be long gone.

While it may seem like it doesn’t matter, maybe that is all that matters. Maybe it is the interactions we experience that matter.

I love the story of the girl on the beach with the starfish. The girl sees hundreds of starfish have washed ashore. She takes one and throws it back in the water. An older man asks, “why would you do that, you can’t possibly make a difference for all of these starfish.” She replies that it mattered to that one.

Life is a series of dominoes. But it isn’t as perfectly aligned as what my family and I did on Sunday. Instead, it is full of twists and turns. It is a constant shifting of energy.

Instead of getting caught up in the current situation or even in ruminating about the past or future, maybe we should just let it all flow, let the dominoes fall how they fall. Worrying won’t stop anything. The dominoes are falling and creating new structures and new systems.

We should stop trying to make sense of the latest political news or the latest tragedy and learn from the little girl throwing starfish back into the ocean. Indeed, what she did mattered to those few starfish that she saved.

Those small actions make a difference. Like the small domino falling and crashing into the next, we can all start to look at what we can do to make something better. It doesn’t have to be to become the next Lincoln. Maybe it can be just to brighten up someone’s day today. Because that may not change the world, but it certainly matters to them.