INK-THEORY
THE DANCE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
A Conversation at IN-Vesta-Gation Headquarters
PIX-INK:
“IN-Vesta, your investigation started with missing people. But sometimes I wonder if we should investigate something that happened long before anyone went missing.”
IN-VESTA:
“Then let's follow the steps backward.”
J FOR JUSTICE:
“That's the Dance.”
IN-VESTA:
“Exactly. An effect doesn't appear from nowhere.”
A feeling.
A reaction.
A withdrawal.
An outburst.
A change in behaviour.
Something came before it.
The question is:
What set the dance in motion?
PIX-INK LOOKS OUT OVER WINNIPEG
PIX-INK:
“For generations, people have sometimes been taught to fear what they don't know.”
“New people.
New cultures.
New religions.
New ways of living.”
“Sometimes that fear was passed down before anyone was given the opportunity to actually meet the people they were taught to fear.”
J FOR JUSTICE:
“And when fear is inherited, it can become a reaction before anyone has had the chance to ask whether the fear still belongs to them.”
IN-VESTA:
“That's where investigation begins.”
THE THREE LOOK AT THE DANCE FLOOR
IN-VESTA:
“We see the effect first.”
J FOR JUSTICE:
“But the effect isn't necessarily the whole story.”
PIX-INK:
“And calling something a cause doesn't automatically mean we're assigning blame.”
IN-VESTA:
“Right.”
“We pause.”
“We look at what came before.”
“We ask what the moment meant to the people involved.”
“And then…”
J FOR JUSTICE:
“We choose the next step.”
THE DANCE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
The same principle that can help us understand an individual's reaction can help us examine relationships between people.
If someone has never been given the opportunity to know another culture, religion or community, their first reaction may be shaped by something they learned before they ever met that person.
That doesn't make the reaction meaningless.
But it also doesn't make the assumption automatically true.
We can investigate the cause without blaming the person experiencing the effect.
We can ask:
What were they taught?
What did they experience?
What did they believe?
What information were they missing?
What happened before the reaction?
And then:
WHAT COULD HAPPEN IF WE CHANGED THE NEXT STEP?
J FOR JUSTICE
“Maybe the problem isn't that people are different.”
“Maybe the problem is that fear can prevent people from ever getting close enough to discover what they actually have in common.”
PIX-INK
“Then we lose something.”
“The opportunity to meet.”
“The opportunity to learn.”
“The opportunity to build friendships.”
“The opportunity to work together.”
“The opportunity to discover that someone else's way of living doesn't have to threaten our own.”
IN-VESTA
“That sounds like another investigation.”
PIX-INK:
“Into what?”
IN-VESTA smiles.
“Into what happens when we replace assumption with curiosity.”
THE FULL WALTZ
The Dance of Cause and Effect asks us to turn the footprints over.
Look at the visible effect.
Trace the steps that came before.
Pause.
Consider.
Choose.
Then look at what happens next.
The goal isn't to control another person's behaviour.
The goal is to understand our own response, become prepared for our triggers, and create more room for healthy choices.
Sometimes the next step is rest.
Sometimes it is conversation.
Sometimes it is a boundary.
Sometimes it is repair.
Sometimes it is simply giving someone the opportunity to explain who they really are.
The final result is not perfection.
THE FINAL RESULT IS UNDERSTANDING FOLLOWED BY CHOICE.
INK-THEORY
THE DANCE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
Don't blame the final movement before you understand the dance that came before it.
Pause.
Trace.
Understand.
Choose.
Inkfluence of Art
“What happens when we stop inheriting fear—and start investigating what we actually know?”