But I didn’t mean it.
It might be the oldest defense in the book. Or if not, it’s certainly the first one we use in our lives.
Yes, these five words are almost an automatic response for kids when they find themselves in trouble.
Got caught hitting your sibling? But I didn’t mean it.
Called a classmate a nasty name in school? But I didn’t mean it.
Egged the neighbor’s house? But I didn’t mean it.
This defense, of course, is an outright lie. We did mean to do those terrible things, but we didn’t mean to get busted.
Our intentions matched our actions in these cases. And even if they hadn’t, we shouldn’t be expecting a free pass for our sociopathic behavior.
Yet, this shoddy defense tactic persists. It existed 50 years ago, it exists now, and it will exist long into the future.
Why? Because it reflects the world at large.
No matter how much we try and keep things in sync, our actions do belie our intentions from time to time.
Life is full of unintended consequences. And that fact has never been more evident.
If someone had told me a year ago that I’d be rationing toilet paper because of a respiratory virus, I would thought they were crazy.
This thought came to me as I took inventory of my supply of toilet paper in my — well, I’m not going to tell you where it’s stashed in my home. I don’t want it stolen.
As the world became gripped by a global pandemic, several predictable things happened. Many people got infected with a lethal virus. Hospital occupancies surged. And, sadly, some succumbed to their illnesses.
Then, several shocking things happened. Sports and concerts got cancelled. Schools and restaurant shut their doors. Office jobs transitioned into remote work arrangements. And entire regions and countries went into lockdown.
Yet, in the midst of all this, some unpredictable things also happened. Perhaps most notably, stores from coast to coast saw their shelves picked clean of toilet paper. And rolling shortages of this sanitary staple persisted for weeks.
There was a valid reason for this strange occurrence, of course. With people spending nearly all of their time at home, toilet paper usage rates were sure to go up.
But unlike many of the other persistent supply shortages — for such items as hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and paper towels — the toilet paper saga didn’t seem to match the moment at hand. Toilet paper is an essential household item, but it doesn’t directly defend against the virus the way those other items do.
No, the run on toilet paper can be tied to flaws in our behavior.
When we face a new threat, we lose constraint. We stock up on supplies and hunker down until the worst has passed.
These tendencies lead to a phenomenon called Panic Buying. As the threat approaches, unconstrained people head to the stores and buy as many essentials as they can — paper towels, bottled water, bread, eggs, milk and, yes, toilet paper.
Other shoppers see the dwindling supply levels in the aisle and feel compelled to buy these items themselves, before the store runs out of them. That only exacerbates the issue.
This scenario can lead to relatively short-term shortages of these problems during a weather event, such as a blizzard. This can be an immediate issue, but not a persistent one. Sure, the shelves might be picked clean of paper towels and loaves of bread for a bit, but replenishments will arrive once the storm passes.
Yet, in a global pandemic, the storm is not so quick to pass. And so, we end up with store shelves barren of toilet paper — no matter how much employees try and restock it. And we end up with people rationing their usage of toilet paper at home, to stretch existing supplies.
The toilet paper shortage is an unintended consequence of the pandemic.
The toilet paper supply issue is perhaps the most prominent of these unintended consequences. But others are even more dire.
Take, for example, the Stay At Home orders put in place by many regions and countries around the world as the pandemic ballooned. These measures are meant to limit motion and reduce the spread of the virus.
But the orders also restrict many opportunities for people to stay in shape. So, an unintended consequence of a measure to protect people’s short-term health is that they lose some ability to protect their long-term health.
And the broader impact of these directives is even more severe. Staying at home means shuttering nearly all businesses with face-to-face interactions. That has caused tens of millions of people lose to lose their jobs. That means they no longer have a paycheck, leaving them without the means to pay their bills or shop for things they need. That causes the people and companies who rely on those payments and purchases to run into trouble as well.
Suddenly, a single decision to save lives has caused financial disaster for many hardworking people and small businesses. That clearly was an unintended consequence of the decision. Or, at least I’d like to hope it was.
Ultimately, the greatest unintended consequence of the pandemic is that people have to make seemingly impossible choices.
As people run low on hand sanitizer or disinfecting wipes, they must decide whether to cut back on using those items to stretch their supplies. One choice risks health now, the other might risk health later.
Along those lines, as people’s budgets get tighter, some must decide what essentials to sacrifice in order to eat.
There are no good answers to conundrums like these. And while these dire consequences might be unintended, that doesn’t remove their sting.
Life is not about how many times you fall. It’s about how many times you get back up.
This famous line comes from Jaime Escalante, who famously taught calculus to students in East Los Angeles.
In a way, Escalante was the perfect vessel for this quote. For math is about making sense of the possibilities. About ordering and synthesizing the problems we face.
And yet, no matter how well we prepare, we will not be ready for all of the possibilities we face. There will be some unintended consequences we must contend with along the way.
Escalante knew this as well as anyone. Born and raised in Bolivia, he eventually emigrated to the United States. But not just anywhere in the United States. Escalante ended up working in one of the roughest and most impoverished areas in California.
Escalante persevered, and many of his students ended up passed the Advanced Placement exam. So many, in fact, that the testing review board initially considered the results to be fraudulent.
His success had led to suspicion. Unintended consequences, in the most ironic of ways.
Yet, Escalante was clearly not a quitter. He believed that the true measure of character was perseverance. And he continued to embody that sentiment.
Escalante has long since passed away. But perhaps we can all still learn from him.
We don’t have to let unintended consequences ruin us, no matter how painful they may be. Even in the face of unanticipated challenges, we can still rise to the occasion.
This takes a spirit of adaptation and an open mind. But it can be done. And indeed it must.
For the world is an unpredictable, and scary place. A place where things can fall apart in the least intentioned of ways.
But we still have a chance to determine how our story goes.
Let’s make good use of that opportunity.