“first, do no harm.” Origin unclear but commonly associated with the Hippocratic Oath.

“Since the end of human action, as distinct from the end products of fabrication, can never be reliably predicted, the means used to achieve political goals are more often than not of greater relevance to the future world than the intended goals.”
― Hannah Arendt

We wrestle with goals big and small. But we rarely spend much time on how we create the path. Now, if we are fans of Machiavelli, we might use any means necessary to achieve the goal. The path then becomes one of convenience and ethical justifications.

I am not a fan of Niccolo, he would have been a very scary physician. Somehow, just four years working within a medical environment cemented my bio ethical views, and that ended up defining the basis for my world views. Although there are moments when we must act quickly, actions should be limited to be the minimum needed. Any actions above and beyond that should be taken with thought and consideration of the collateral, as well as unintended, consequences. That usually requires time and observation.

It is my belief that if one rushes ahead to a goal, using any means necessary, there’s more likelihood of attaining those unintended consequences (thank you Robert K. Merton for that term). It’s also my belief that whatever means we use to achieve a goal will create that goal’s final form.

The idea behind “first, do no harm” is that doing harm is the worst outcome. If we go to the surgeon, we do not wish, nor expect, to come out worse off than before we retained their services. We might not be happy if we came out no better than before, but worse? That’s what leads to medical malpractice suits. I have now almost died at least three times and two of those were directly the unintended consequences of medical treatment.

**A bit of a side note here; I just realized that it wasn’t solely those four years that shaped my worldview, it was also the trauma, and the years of healing that made it my bedrock. For quite a while I over analyzed possible outcomes. That is a danger when trying to limit collateral damages.

We cannot accurately predict all the outcomes to a far-off goal. There are just too many possibilities. But we can, at each decision point: make sure we are working within our ethical standards, use those standards to make our choice, and remap the path before us to make sure we are still heading towards our goal. This can apply to every area of life, it’s especially helpful when I have to make a decision and I have no clear idea of the outcome my choice will create.

*pigeon update*

Pigeons are homebodies and don’t easily consider scampering away from what was a comfy place. I removed my birdfeeders over the weekend, as the city requested, but my dear, dear, neighbor does not understand the ways of pigeons and called in another report the day I removed my feeder. Luckily the PHD that is working for the city seems to understand the birds a bit better and expects the pigeons to be here a while before they move on. I still get sad though when I try to explain to them that I can’t bring their second hand breakfast any longer. Maybe pigeons are like Hobbits, and just keep looking for second breakfasts. They certainly seem like Hobbits. There’s even a Frillback with extra short legs. Oh my goodness. It’s like a bird version of a Corgi. Anyway, this is short today, but thank you for reading about my bit of the world.