Every Word Births a Butterfly

In the modern world we think that words have no value, to the point that streamers like Pokimane joke that “all women belong in the kitchen.” Even though she meant it as a joke, such a statement invalidates her hard work as an independent female content creator and a role model to teenage girls. However, this is common within our generation; after all, we came up with the phrase “actions are stronger than words.” Yet, this phrase in itself is a paradox. How can we argue this phrase is factual when our very words are what inspire us to take such actions? In reality our every sound, every word and every conversation has a subconscious butterfly effect on human development. Do our words actually hold such power to the point that even the slightest shift in our pitch or tone can alter another’s perspective on the world? 

Human conversations are reminiscent of a butterfly’s life cycle; our every thought starts as a simple egg until mundane words hatch into budding caterpillars which carefully string themselves along on our brains until they enter a pupa stage where they’re weaved into sentences. Although, this is just the start of their journey because after a period of time, our conversations are transformed into beautiful butterflies, morphing our subconscious understanding of the world around us with the flap of their wings.

According to chaos theory, the study that all sporadic and unpredictable activities in the universe are governed by the same laws of mathematics and mechanics humanity follows; the butterfly effect claims that even the most insignificant changes in the world can have drastic impacts on the world around us. Whether that be hitting the snooze button on an alarm leading to missing the bus for school, forgetting to submit a tax document and having the IRS crash down your door, or the most cliche; losing a cherished item leading to the possible discovery of the love of your life. 

For example; Edward Lorenz, a MIT meteorologist that identified what is now known as the butterfly effect while testing the simulations of weather patterns, proved this hypothesis by experimenting how a singular flap of a butterfly wing could alter atmospheric pressure.  Previous identical weather simulations that once depicted clear and sunny weather, now had skies filled with downpours of rain and storm clouds as far as the eye could see because of a singular movement. While, I agree that this is maybe a once in a lifetime possibility and a more extreme application of the theory in the real-world, does this possibility not serve to further prove that even the smallest alterations can lead to dramatic side-effects in society? Could we consider that even the simplest turn of phrase has the ability to change others perspective? This serves to prove that even the smallest conversation has a psychological butterfly effect on our development as a society, because what is humanity if not for the words we use to express who we are as creatures? After all, that is how we have developed as a society.

Applying the butterfly effect to our words means they can have a multitude of benefits, or drag us into a downward spiral. For instance, we call romantics “simps,” a word derived from simpleton, because they wear their hearts on their sleeves. Have we ever considered that this causes romantics to think that conveying their honest feelings is immature or that their sincerity comes off as creepy? Consider another term, ‘academic weapon.’ Calling someone this isn’t a straightforward compliment, it places a heavy burden on them to succeed out of the fear that they’ll be letting people down, and it relates their success to something dangerous, so perhaps they’ll feel less proud of it. As a result of labels like these, we trust one another less.

Sometimes words can be a positive tool for humanity’s structural development by serving as motivation for generations to come; allowing us to weave a web of cultural identity through poetry, which I personally find helps me connect with others. Ultimately, that’s how most languages were derived from Latin like French, Spanish, and English. They were created because we wanted to discover new words to express ourselves because the standard words didn’t clearly convey their emotions. Currently, people don’t care enough about how their words could affect people because they believe words are negligible; that a single word couldn’t possibly make a difference in someone’s morning routine, for instance. 

But history still serves as one of the strongest examples that our words do create a sort of butterfly effect within our community. For example in Martin Luther King’s, “I Have a Dream”( www.gilderlehrman.org ), Dr. King uses his words as a driving force not only to bring the African-American community together, but also to unify America under a common goal, equality and freedom. Dr. King once wrote, “let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends,” but imagine if it just read “let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today.” Only two words were removed and yet the entire quote has been changed to address only a portion of the demographic. By removing “my friends” the quote now implies that Dr. King didn’t want equality, it implies that Dr. King only cared for the equality of African-American population, instead of the United States as a whole. Subsequently, this slight change in phrase alone proves that even a single word could change the meaning of a sentence because if Dr, King did choose to remove “my friends,” it could imply that he saw other races as the enemy and have the possibility of failing to unite other demographic; Dr. King hated the system, he loved the innocent people who were victims to it.

Words might seem insignificant to you, but to others these words can be the deciding factor that set the way for their future. I didn’t understand this myself until I met my best friend Elena. She made me see the truth hidden behind my words, opening my eyes to the beautiful wing patterns that words could set into effect. While we can’t change how a person interprets our words, we can make what we’re trying to convey a lot more clear if we give our words a little more thought.