The Butterfly Effect… & perhaps a slice of pizza

Ever heard of the butterfly effect? well, in case you haven’t, it is something that we tend to perceive as insignificant at any given time and place may actually be the motive that sets into motion a series of events that would drastically change our lives and existence. The butterfly effect is not necessarily considered as a downfall due to it being able to erase one’s darkest fears and secrets that might be linked to one’s memory by force because it can also change one’s life for the better, but one must keep in mind the consequences that one has to face and encounter.

I would like to share with you all a story that would explain the butterfly effect in a visual way. The story is called “The Pizza Boy”, from the title itself you can already tell that the story includes pizza, a dish that most of the human kind admires oh so much (for those who don’t, I can promise you that you guys are missing out) , and of course the male gender but that is if you haven’t gotten that idea from the title of this article already.

?Let’s start with the story, shall we

pizza boy: “I used to deliver pizzas for a well-known pizza chain, as I was getting dressed and ready for a shift, I had totally forgotten to do my laundry the night before… I’ve been planning on doing it but it slipped my mind after I found a Sopranos boxset I thought I had lost in a drawer I hadn’t looked in for quite some time. I don’t know what compelled me to look in there but it was a happy discovery. Despite really enjoying the show, I had never gotten further than the 4th season and it was time to right that wrong… what was meant to be a couple of episodes turned into a marathon and I passed out from tiredness without washing my clothes. As such, I had to make do with wearing a pair of old  blue jeans that I had for ages now and its pockets were too small to be useful so I get to work and I make a delivery, I get my tip and I head back to the pizza place and as I walk inside, I don’t put my car keys in my jeans pocket as usual, instead I put them into the side pocket in my work jacket which we had to wear whenever we made deliveries. I hung my jacket up next to a few of the others and chilled out until it became time for my next delivery… An order comes through… 4 large pizzas and a couple of sides and what a good opportunity to make some more tips as well. The guy who placed the order said to meet him in a specific parking lot since his place was really hard to find and that would be an easy and close place to meet.. Fair enough we’ve had requests like that before. In other words, these sort of phone call deliveries stopped being spooky long time ago. the pizzas are good to go and as I put on my jacket and check the pockets, I realize that my car keys aren’t there… It turns out that another delivery boy had taken my jacket by mistake not realizing that my keys were inside. However, one of the other pizza boys was there to cover for me.. We’ll call him Graig, a young boy who could use the extra cash, fine by me. he gives me a pat on the shoulder and sets off the door while I wait for my boss to come and lecture me for my incompetence but Graig never came back to the pizza place… what could’ve possibly went wrong? it’s not rocket science.. I mean delivering pizzas for a living should be nothing but a piece of cake, right?

Little did I know that when he arrived at the parking lot, he was jumped by two bulky guys who had plan to rob whoever delivered the pizzas even though Graig did nothing to provoke them, they ended up stabbing him multiple times with a knife and a screwdriver… Unfortunately, he didn’t survive. Had I not randomly thought about breaking that one specific drawer into two pieces? I most certainly wouldn’t have forgotten to wash my jeans. I wouldn’t have put my keys in my jacket if I had a decent jeans pocket in the first place and I would’ve made that fatal delivery. I quit my job the next day because I couldn’t handle the bloodbath that I caused by accident.

the butterfly affect would’ve changed that boy’s life and mine as well.. A one small change in the starting condition of this event could’ve changed everything but as we always say “everything happens for a reason”, huh? you must bare in mind that I am most certainly not a cynical person nor do I intend to be one but sometimes we tend to cause people so much pain and agony with our reckless behaviors. We need to think more before we act and we need to think even more before we speak because trust me when I say that words can be just as deadly as a bullet.” -ex Pizza Boy

Nada Alanazi –