The Butterfly Effect Do Work

Butterfly effect is a term base on a mathematical theory call "chaos theory" according to Wikipedia, which I have very little knowledge or interest in since that to do with boring mathematic. But when someone applies those boring theories in to real life, they get undoubtedly fascinating, just like my grandmothers cooking. The simple idea behind Butterfly Effect is, a butterfly in Africa flapping its wings, may create a ripple effect that end up as a cyclone in America or some other continent. Even though, to me that argument sounded like a bad excuse for not doing home work, a mathematician may prove it using hieroglyphics on large blackboards, as they usually do.

I was reading the news about unrest in China this week. A 19 year old Han Chinese girl working as a trainee in a toy factory lost her way to her dormitory. I don’t know how she managed to lost her way, but I like to imagine, it may be a boy with his hands in his pockets, whistling at passing girls, leaning and covering the signpost which pointed toward the girl’s dormitory, cause her to lose her way. Whatever the reason it may be, she ended up opening a door of a room to some Uygur young men. Having seen unexpected men in the room and realizing that was not her dormitory, she screamed and runaway. I don’t know why she decided to do that, but girls usually very good at creating drama when they are occasionally embarrassed. The girl went on her way to her friends and spends night with them.

I don’t know how other Han workers got to know that either. But I like to imagine one Han guy bored that day because of some minor reason, smoking a cigarette looking outside his window, wearing nothing but his underwear, saw a Han girl screaming and running away from a room occupied by some young Uygur boys. Hans and Uygurs been belong to two deferent ethnic groups, they agreed upon doing exact thing any number of ethnic groups suppose to do in such a situation. Fight with each other, while continually informing and inviting others on mobile phones. So they did just that. As lethal as Chinese fights are reputed to be, the fight overflowed from the dormitory to the factory and from factory to the city causing more than 160 people dead. Chinese government deployed 1000s of solders to the region and pronounce anyone involved in fighting will be executed. That means more dead people. Meanwhile Chinese president, who was working on fixing the global economic crises with G8 leaders, had to stop all that good work and fly back home right away to address the Han vs Uygurs fight, causing further delays improving the global economy. Now, that is what I like to call The Butterfly Effect and that is how our little lives effected most of the time. But we rather like to think we have significant control of everything around us, or at least we know a fellow who we can bribe by cheap praises regularly and get him to control situations. But that is not really the case. A girl walking in to a wrong building in China, may create a situation that cause you to lose your job in Sri Lanka.