Tipping Points

    I have read a poem by Jane Kenyon named "Otherwise", and after contemplating
it for a period of time, I have come to the conclusion its lesson is that no
matter how great things are going right now, Finagle's Law is always waiting
just around the corner to turn everything horrible. The poem goes through the
day of a person in a concise manner, and whenever he does anything, he comments:
"It might have been otherwise."

    This ties in to "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe to an incredible
amount: At the beginning of "Things Fall Apart", at least from a strictly linear
perspective, all's well and good for Okonkwo. Over time, however, this was no
longer the case - it did become otherwise. Not only that, but the chain of
events eventually culminated in Okonkwo commiting suicide.

    Another example in "Things Fall Apart" is the religion war: at first, the
natives had a religion in which the dead became spirits of what could well be
called an underworld. However, when the white men from across the sea brought
their religion into the mix, it spread like an insiduous plague, even though at
first the strangers did nothing to actively promote their religion over the
natives'. By the time the natives realized what was happening, it was already
too late for them to fight back.

    In fact, in both cases, the point at which the victim or victims realize
what's happening, it's already too late to turn the tide back again. In this,
one can easily be lured into believing nothing will ever change, seeing as it's
incredibly difficult to realize what's happening before the tipping point has
been reached.

    However, this would be an incredibly foolish strategy, as letting nature
take its course is the surest way of ensuring the tipping point will be reached.
Although it's not easy, it's necessary to make sure we realize what's happening
before the tipping point has been reached. I believe that is the lesson the poem
is trying to teach us.