Cause and Effect

Rube Goldberg machines show the epitome of cause and effect relationships. Each small action affects the whole contraption. Even a small tap from a rolling marble or a swinging rope causes some other contraption to start moving, too. It moves for the 4 minute and 44 seconds between many walls and figures.

The specific Rube Goldberg machine video I watched was the world’s largest according to the Guinness World Record book. The video reaches nearly five minutes of the simple causes that in the end result in the lighting of a Christmas tree. It all started with the press of a button that sent a ball running.  Almost five minutes later all the movement ends with a sled running into the button that lights up the Christmas tree.

This same concept of cause and effect can be applied to people as well. Like when the lady in front of you at Starbucks pays for your drink, so you pay for the the next persons and the cycle continues until someone breaks it. Even some of the smallest actions or words can affect the next person more than someone might think. The idea of cause and effect was introduced to most people at a very young age. Given that, it seems like most would be able to understand how their actions affect people, but if anything has disproved this, it’s high school. Kids act impulsively without much thought to how it may affect someone or even themselves in the future.

Many people maintain a negative cause that hurts others. High school kids don’t realize how their actions affect others. Obliviousness to their cause creates so many problems for people. Everything someone does will most likely affect someone else, so thinking before speaking is so important. Since people in high school are so young they lack the experiences that could help them empathize with someone else. For example, my best friends mom passed away this past summer. Although I didn’t understand, I always tried to be there because I knew how something so traumatic was ruining her. However, the rest of our volleyball team was aware of her situation, but had no idea how difficult it was and still is

The cause and effect shown in Rube Goldberg’s machine video is the perfect demonstration of how even small causes have big effects. Something that started with a small ball rolling evolved into a the lighting of a huge tree. This is also known as the snowball effect. Something small and seemingly insignificant can become so much greater and important. Because of this, consciousness of actions is so important to maintaining good relationships with others.