Intentions Vs. Impact

If you know me, you know one of my favorite pastimes is watching my stories. Five days a week, I turn off my brain and get lost in the craziness of soap operas, whether it’s Days of Our Lives or, most recently, Beyond the Gates. One of the reasons I love this is that I get to forget my responsibilities, worries, and troubles for a couple of hours and breathe. Nothing else matters to me; I get to escape in the world of Salem or Fairmont Crest.

But now and then, they shock me and leave a lasting impact.

This week, during a major gut-wrenching story on Beyond the Gates, one of the characters said something that would leave a lasting impression on me. I will not go into deep detail, but for background, the grandparents helped their grandson cover a murder. He was protecting himself and his grandfather when the incident occurred, and they thought they were doing what was best.

Anyway, towards the end of the episode, the pair discussed their intentions and how they were trying to protect their grandson, when the grandmother said:

“Intent isn’t impact.”

That completely stopped me in my tracks for a second. I said “WOW!” because I thought about the numerous times I have had the best of intentions but still hurt someone — maybe not physically, but emotionally. However, I may have downplayed their feelings by saying, “Well, I didn’t mean to hurt them, that wasn’t my intent.”

Sometimes we can have the best of intentions, but the impact and aftermath of our decisions can be disastrous.