Just Cause And Effect

I have spent the week teaching elementary school students about causal relationships. The one that works with just about any age level is the one about giving a mouse a cookie. You know, if you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. If you give him a glass of milk, he's going to ask for your first born son. And so on. You get the idea. When that fails to catch their fancy, I go directly to "What happens if you don't turn in your homework?" Even the six and seven-year-olds get that one.
Actions have consequences. Some of them are good, some of them are not. These were the thoughts going through my head as I was preparing for my after school tutoring group. One of the ladies who usually helps me out during those afternoon sessions told me she was leaving early to avoid the potential mess at her BART stop. There was another protest scheduled for commute time, and she didn't want to be stranded or have to walk miles out of her way just to get home. I told her that we would make do and wished her well.
The protest was another in a series staged as a call for justice after a BART policeman killed an unarmed suspect on New Year's Day. The officer in question has been fired, arrested, and released on bond as he awaits trial. In the past three months, there have been numerous protests, some of them large, some of them small, some of them peaceful, some of them not so peaceful. There has been a great deal of property damage and a great many arrests. And now, I face my after school crew shorthanded. The kids in my room were patient as we rushed around to meet their needs, and they got most of the attention they deserved. It wasn't easy.
Just like the small business owners who had their windows smashed during those early demonstrations, I wondered if this was a planned consequence, or simply the ripple effect of a situation that continues to wobble on the edge of anarchy.
It's the butterfly effect, if the butterfly in question happens to be Mothra.