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In times of transition and uncertainty, we are often compelled to look to poets to help us understand both the world we live in and the one we wish to create.
Unitarian Universalism has a long tradition of drawing inspiration and meaning making from poetry and so, the Unitarian Universalist Association brings to you the poem “the butterfly effect” by Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto, which is a part of their poetry collection Spilling the Light, published by Skinner House Books.
Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto is a Unitarian Universalist minister, activist, and organizer who currently serves as executive director of TRUUsT (Transgender Religious professional Unitarian Universalists Together).
Soto’s prophetic voice reflects the shared values that UUs affirm and helps us envision a future where we understand our interdependence and uplift the dignity and worthiness of all.
the butterfly effect
I wish the knowledge
were easier to come by,
that individualism is
just a scam, that
you are always
the butterfly wings.
You are always
the storm.
Edward Lorenz,
a weather scientist
from MIT, is
sometimes misquoted
on this, as the premise
that the
flap of a
butterfly wing
can cause
a hurricane in a
different part
of the world.
Shorthand that isn’t
all that close to
a representation
of the math-turned-
weather scientist’s work.
He proposed that,
Should we make
even a tiny alteration
to nature,
we will never know what
would have happened
if we had not disturbed it,
since subsequent changes
are too complex
and entangled
to restore
a previous state.
Which is to say
that you have an
immeasurable effect
on the system. It
will change and you
will shape its DNA.
You must not believe
the lying lie that
you do not matter,
that whatever change
you can organize is
so insufficient as to
not be worth
your time,
your energy,
your life force.
You must be willing
to dream a dream
that carries forward
your community. This
is how we rise.
This day is polluted
with a mistrust of truth,
fertile and warm medium
for unchecked cruelty and
power. You must choose
to scream the truth
until every leaf and stone
bears unrepentant witness
to what happens when
you try to cage and smash,
to pin and frame a butterfly
and their thousands and thousands
of fabulous, flamboyant friends.