The Domino Effect

The Domino Effect

Written by: T. L. O’Neal

 

Does anyone ever think about

all the choices that they make?

How it affects other people’s lives,

what they will be when they wake?

 

Does anyone ever thinks what happens,

when they abort a child?

All the generations that are lost,

the souls that are exiled.

 

Or when one is murdered in cold blood,

gone from their families; lost are their words.

Will their soul be damned to hell,

and their thoughts never again to be heard?

 

What happens when you breakup your family,

and the different paths that you take?

Is it a good decision or bad,

will their sprits grow or will they break?

 

When a bird’s egg is broken,

in time what will be lost?

Will the sky go barren,

Is it all worth the cost?

 

If you break one’s spirit,

and take away their dreams.

Does it make you feel better,

and lift your self-esteem?

 

Break someone’s will,

and puncture their soul.

Do you take the responsibility,

for your part in the role?

 

At what cost are your decisions,

when put into play by hate?

Does it make the world a better place,

and your life easier to relate?

 

Everyone has a choice,

in which direction they go.

The path you choose is yours,

to make friends or foes.

 

Sometimes in the choices you make

you can’t change things back.

Life moves on without you,

see now what your life lacks.

 

What good is it to gain the world,

if you lose your very soul.

Is it a good trade off,

what is your spiritual toll?

 

Choose wisely your path,

from now till the end.

Because it affects everyone,

living in love or sin.

 

If something good happens to you,

do you pass it on to another?

Make the world a better place,

and that person a brother.

 

Everything that you do,

or everyone you neglect,

has reactions… good or bad,

it’s called the domino effect.

 

Reviews

[Siobhan MacIntyre]

Very thought-provoking questions and ideas.

I am quite amazed that you have not been the cyber-equivalent of dive-bombed by angry vultures over the abortion stanza. Any time anyone calls me on my beliefs in that regard (I am anti-) I just quite simply say, "Have you ever had an abortion? If not, shut the hell up because you have no idea based in reality of what is the actual cost."


Everything we do does affect others. Choosing one avenue ends the possibilities that a different choice would have afforded. Careless words maim relationships. Selfish decisions maim hearts. Everything interacts.

Very profound, my friend. ;-)

[Tigerlobo]

whoa. welcome back! i am moved to ponder such realities, ones I mindlessly brush off my shoulders.

[Dorian Petersen Potter]

Very powerful facts and poem! It really makes you think long and hard about them all.These are very provoking thoughts and questions.I loved this poem! I really believe that you've done such wonderful job with it.I really hope and pray, that your poem, reaches and touches each and every soul who reads it.And that make them meditate, and search inside their own selves :)

[Phill Oz O'fee]

Excellent write. I could feel compassion flowing from your words from start to finish. Many questions, with many variants of thought. Judging by the number of reviews (and I've read them all), this philosophical and poignant composition has succeeded in it's object - to stimulate an emotional reaction.

The domino effect also reminded me of the butterfly theory, where it purports; a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a tornado to appear (or prevent a tornado from appearing), in another part of the planet.

Carl Jung wrote: "Between the conscious and the unconscious there is a kind of 'uncertainty relationship', because the observer is inseparable from the observed and always disturb it, by the act of observation". Which basically means, the future is a complex, unpredictable mired of probabilities.

The best we can hope for is doing the right thing, at the right time!

Bravo my friend � bravo!

God's Blessing
Phillozofee

[~ Tex]

It's a thought provoking write indeed. I know the pain of losing a child, losing a significant other in my arms on a snowy Christmas Eve night, losing a best friend in the quiet of Christmas Eve night, losing a fellow soldier in front of my eyes... I've seen more than I've personally experienced... so I always think about the Domino Effect.

While I'm not a proponent of abortion, I also have spent my life fighting for people's rights. I don't think that abortion is the answer to the "accidents" of idiots having sex while knowing the consequences... of course, I feel for any child who comes into the world and is not wanted by such people who would label their child as a "mistake" or "accident."

On the other hand, I have no problem with any woman seeking abortion because she's been raped or for medical reasons, particularly in the case of discovering that a full-term pregnancy will result in the death of both mother and child... and such well defined cases do exist.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what I think... each individual is responsible for his or her own life and will answer for it.

Could be that an abortion costs us the next Einstein... or course, the flip side is, that it costs us a whole family tree of Mansons and Bundys.

Loss, of any type, is heartbreaking.

Nice write.

[Kelley Pascoe]

Your writing always makes me think T(smile) This was a real good write and I know what you mean. Great write!!! Thanks for sharing.
Kelley Frost

[Sean Allen]

Great advice to ponder on as I head off to bed. I will awake tomorrow and do some of what you say, knowing that what I do affects others. Thank you for writing this nice thought provoking poem.
Donn

[L.P. Hawkins]

What I've taken from this is chaos theory applied not from randomness but of the actions of free will emulsified in verse. I liked that you started with an opening stanza, gave examples in the next few, and then continued with the expression of thinking of outcome as a follower to the conclusion in the last stanza. Not only have you written a poem with thought and meaning but you also created a proposal. your despcriptives are simple enough for all to grasp and deep enough in meaning for scholars to ponder. those thoughts are not just intertwined with one another, they are the same thing. Amazing. I have high standards for you, my friend, and this poem shines. Thank you for sharing this.

[Autumn Dawn Gorny]

This piece thruely so cause and effect of the holidays for the mortal and the unseen world

[H. A. M.]

Your putting some good questions in peoples heads with this one. More of a somber write than your comedic ones. This still has those life issues in it but more from a philisophical view. I enjoyed this and liked the wrap up at the end.

"Everything that you do,
or everyone you neglect,
has reactions� good or bad,
it's called the domino effect"

Good stuff Manard!

[An Ordinary Woman]

I like the idea of the domino stanzas, too.

I'm really glad that you sent this to me, it's beautiful and very powerful. I have very strong feelings about the importance of taking responsibility for ones actions, it's a simple yet important task we all need to think about.

I used to work for the local school district and I'm still astounded by the parents that outright refuse to teach their children to be responsible, placing blame instead on anything or anyone rather than where the blame needs to be. Sorry for my little tangent here but you've really hit the nail on the head.

Also I really like this writing style, it suits you well my friend!
Thanks soooo much for sharing it with me!