Be Careful What You Wish Or Pray for as It May Come True – January 23, 2021

This has been on my mind for a while. See too many wishing or praying for something, only to get what they wanted and regretting it later. The regret may happen fast or over a period of time. I have seen large groups of people wishing or praying for something to happen.They don’t consider the consequences of what they want to happen. In many cases, the regret is felt by many people who never wanted it to happen.

I think of the law of unintended consequences. There are often what seem to be simple solutions, but often have consequences that are not simple. Think of something you think may have a simple answer. Next, consider the possibility of consequences based on what you think may happen. I would suggest considering other possibilities you have considered.

A great example is my hometown has Barrier Islands and many of the beaches have brown water. If you go about 12 miles offshore, you get nice blue water. Some well-meaning people want to remove the Barrier Islands without considering the result. A major thing is the Barrier Islands slow down hurricanes bearing down on the beaches north of the islands. Likewise, the islands act as a barrier to the tidal surge that ultimately hurts the land. The islands get hit with the tidal surge which has to build back up after the islands absorb it. Seen a similar thing with barrier islands in other states that are prone to hurricanes or similar types of weather.

We rarely see sharks near the beaches in my hometown. It happens on occasion, but other areas the islands don’t cover see more sharks. Removing the islands would let them get closer to the beaches. Once you get near the islands, you see a fair number of sharks.