My neighbor bought an older cottage that needed some serious renovation. Since he is an exceptional tradesman he does this work himself. That fills me with awe since I am not a tradesman who does this all himself. But my neighbor does. That includes tearing the old porch off an aging house and building a new and improved one. That also means fixing the floor of a house that has been sinking.
Jacking up the back end of a house is more complicated than it seems. After pouring a cement footing that can hold the weight you place jacks on pylons that can actually lift a beam that runs under the whole length of the floor. Then the day comes when you say, "Everything is set and it's time to actually jack it up." I can tell you this is not like jacking up your car to fix a flat tire, which is as close as I get to it. No, for me this is just one step less than a tornado picking up your house and dropping it on a green witch with ruby slippers.
So that's what happens, the back of the house actually gets jacked up several inches until the level shows the floor is on the bubble. I can see all this through my kitchen window, how it has been lifted several inches higher than it was. Again, I'm filled with admiration and wonder. Imagine lifting a house.
Later I go next door to check in and see how things are going. I stand on the front porch and knock on the front door and my neighbor answers, but he calls out from the inside through the glass: "I can't open it because all the doors are stuck." Lifting the back of the house had twisted the old house in such a way that it caused all the doors to stick.
You never know what unintended consequences will descend when you mess with one side of a formula. Whether it is your house, your family, a relationship, your job, a group, a church, a nation or group of nations, when you mess with one thing it affects everything else. You just don't know what or how much.
That doesn't mean you should never make a change. Sure, it might be best to leave some sleeping dog lie, but some may actually need to be shooed off the porch, regardless of the unexpected fallout. Sometimes you just have to damn the torpedoes. And then expect fallout because everything is interconnected.
So the next time you decide to jack up some corner of your life expect that you may also create some sticky doors as a result. One change may lead to another and then another. And if it is that important in the first place even an unexpected sacrifice may be worth it.
