Connections -- Part 2

Last Wednesday I looked at human connections. This week I delve into connections in logic and events.

I think it perhaps is the writer in me, or maybe that pesky remnant of my left brain, that looks for logical connections between events and people. Sometimes, also, illogical connections. What do I mean?

What is the connection between weather and mood, mood and action, action and reaction?

When I see a behavior, an event, or even a natural phenomenon, I start looking at the cause and effect relationships. I don’t mean in an algebraic sense. I’m terrible at math, especially algebra proofs. I do love, though, sorting out the factors that lead people and animals to behave as they do.

If my friend lashes out at a friendly barista when she makes a simple mistake, is it in character or out? If out of character, why did it happen? Is my friend having a bad day and, if he is, then why? Is it a personal problem, Seasonal Affective Disorder, or a problem with medication dosage?

When earthquakes and tsunamis start ripping through the earth at a startling rate, I wonder about that rate. Is there a cause and effect relationship within the earth's plates that causes a ripple effect (um, yes, pretty sure there is)? Does the earth go through this cycle every several hundred years, or is this a sign of the coming end? Or have things been this bad all along, and we just didn't have the technology to spread the word?

And what about the connection between such disasters and the humans who endure them.? The people of Japan show amazing fortitude in the face of calamity. In other places, such events would lead to looting and rioting. What is the connection between events and reactions? What deep recesses of the soul lead some to amazing heights of courage and others to the darkest depths of human behavior?

Maybe I’m wrong about this being something writers examine in particular. Perhaps this is another trait all humanity shares. I’m not sure it is, though, because I often find myself getting sideways stares when I start asking why people behave in certain ways under not-so-certain circumstances. These, though, are the questions that drive my thoughts…who, what, where, when, how and why.

Next Wednesday, the role of connections in our lives.