How does ‘history’ happen?
What causes wars and revolutions?
How do influential leaders rise to power?
How do great civilizations come to an end?
In my last article, we looked at how to create history. Today, we’ll look a little more at causation.
When someone says that something happened for one specific reason, they are probably oversimplifying things. Watch the news lately? Do they only give one side of the story? If so, you may want to check other sources.
Historians don’t just collect facts and index them in the encyclopedia. They also have to sort through all of the available information, decide what’s most important, and figure out what’s missing. This is a good skill for everyone. Especially while watching the news. Even looking at what has happened in your own life for the just the past week, do you know why everything happened?
Leaving the grand scheme of history aside, let’s look at a simpler situation.
(You may wonder what this story has to do with the study of historical causation, but I promise I’ll get to it by the end!)
Let’s say that your Great Aunt Edith invited you to dinner. She’s a lonely old lady and you want to be nice to her, but another two-hour seminar on her vast collection of knitting patterns leaves you shivering with dread. Just then, your old college buddy invites you to another famously wild party. Only one problem. Your ex might be there. Aunt Edith’s knitting patterns, or a potential run-in with your ex?
“Sorry, friend, I already planned to have dinner with my Great Aunt Edith.”
Aunt Edith lives just down the block from you. It’s a nice day, but a little breezy, so you put on your favorite hoodie and decide to walk.
The closer you get, the better the party sounds. Two hours of knitting patterns… Could seeing your ex really have been that bad?
Just as you reach Aunt Edith’s front porch steps, an enormous mixed-breed dog, roughly the size of a small moose, comes bounding out of nowhere and slams into you. You land on your self-respect, raise your arm to defend yourself, and find the dog’s jaws clamped to your sleeve.
Pause on this image and ask yourself…
“Why did this happen?”
Your first thought, aside from personal safety, is to sue the pants off whoever is responsible.
A guy in boxer shorts and a bathrobe (no pants to sue) comes
flying out of the next house, wrestles the dog off, and sits on it.
“I’m so sorry,” he says. “It’s not even
my dog. My roommate only adopted it yesterday
and the gate was closed when I checked it ten minutes ago. All the dog did so far was lay on the couch
and make funny faces. I had no idea it was
dangerous.”
So who do you sue?
This guy?
The dog’s owner?
The delivery guy who didn’t close the gate five minutes ago?
As it turns out, the gate latch had been improperly installed, causing it to break when the delivery guy slammed it too hard.
Do you sue the latch manufacturer for creating an inferior product? The gate installer for shoddy workmanship?
How about the humane society for not doing adequate behavior testing, or for not fully disclosing the dog’s behavior issues to the adopter? The dog’s breeder? The person who raised the dog?
How was the dog raised? How many previous owners did the dog have? How would you even find out this information?
Did you happen to look like someone who once mistreated the dog?
(I was once attacked by an emu for this reason. Also, perhaps, because I wasn’t paying attention and got too close to it. And because I went into the barn that day….)
If the dog was of a “dangerous breed,” that would add a whole other level to the debate….
And, just when you thought the list couldn’t get any longer, your college buddy says, “This only happened because of your silly devotion to your Great Aunt Edith. If you came to the party instead, the dog never would have bitten you.”
Well, your buddy’s not technically incorrect, though we may question this line of logic. You could just as easily blame your ex for making the party sound like less fun than Great Aunt Edith’s knitting seminar.
While you puzzle through the mess, Great Aunt Edith knits you a new hoodie.
In my last article, I told you to put your shoes on, go forth, and create history. Today, I say everything you do is only a drop in an ocean-sized bucket, one of a thousand other potential reasons. Do we really have any personal control over the vast and unfathomable forces of history?
The next time you ask, “Why did this happen?”, the list of causes might be endless. Causation is often incredibly complex, with many pieces beyond our control. But that doesn’t mean we’re helpless. Even when one piece of the puzzle is out of our reach, what we do about it is still up to us. And our response can often influence what happens next.
Yes, sometimes things happen because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or the right place at the right time. But planning for a golden opportunity to strike is like planning to win the lottery.
Instead, tip the odds in your favor.
By studying the role of causation in your own life, you can see which actions are the most influential. Then, instead of just doing “something” or “anything,” you can focus on doing “the most productive thing.”
Therein lies the key to forward progress.
Ready to make history? Go put your shoes on.