In times of transition and uncertainty, we are often compelled to look to the poets to help us understand both the world we live in and the one we wish to create. Such as we did at our Poets in Resistance- Again event last week.

Unitarian Universalism has a long tradition of drawing inspiration and meaning making from poetry and so, on this day, the Unitarian Universalist Association brings to you the poem “The Butterfly Effect” by Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto.

Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto is a Unitarian Universalist minister, activist, and organizer who currently serves as executive director of TRUUsT (Transgender Religious professional Unitarian Universalists Together) and has been a guest speaker in our pulpit several years ago.

Soto’s prophetic voice reflects the shared values that UUs affirm and helps us envision a future where we understand our interdependence and uplift the dignity and worthiness of all. 

the butterfly effect

I wish the knowledge

were easier to come by,

that individualism is

just a scam, that

you are always

the butterfly wings.

You are always

the storm.

Edward Lorenz,

a weather scientist

from MIT, is

sometimes misquoted

on this, as the premise

that the

flap of a

butterfly wing

can cause

a hurricane in a

different part

of the world.

Shorthand that isn’t

all that close to

a representation

of the math-turned-

weather scientist’s work.

He proposed that,

Should we make

even a tiny alteration

to nature,

we will never know what

would have happened

if we had not disturbed it,

since subsequent changes

are too complex

and entangled

to restore

a previous state.

Which is to say

that you have an

immeasurable effect

on the system. It

will change and you

will shape its DNA.

You must not believe

the lying lie that

you do not matter,

that whatever change

you can organize is

so insufficient as to

not be worth

your time,

your energy,

your life force.

You must be willing

to dream a dream

that carries forward

your community. This

is how we rise.

This day is polluted

with a mistrust of truth,

fertile and warm medium

for unchecked cruelty and

power. You must choose

to scream the truth

until every leaf and stone

bears unrepentant witness

to what happens when

you try to cage and smash,

to pin and frame a butterfly

and their thousands and thousands

of fabulous, flamboyant friends.