The Meaning of Chaos

When I looked at this prompt I thought about the personal realm first. I have faced what seemed to be chaos in my life a few times. However, when I reflected I realised that at no point had chaos ever truly entered my life. Every occasion where I thought of chaos I could actually ascribe my situations to previous poor decisions by myself or others. Chaos is one of those words we can often misuse to excuse our own failings or to exaggerate somewhat difficult situations.

Now, I have been very lucky so far not to have been caught up in a natural or man made disaster, but I feel that this is what the word chaos should be reserved for, namely something completely out of your control which you had no opportunity to affect. We often misuse words and rob them of their meanings and chaos is a very good example. A morning where trains are completely messed up for whatever reason or roads are blocked is routinely called chaotic, but it really isn’t. It’s just one day where you can’t get to school or work easily. A storm can cause chaos in the short term and occasionally in the medium term. An earthquake can cause chaos for decades especially in poor countries. Human beings in their limited sphere cannot cause chaos, although they can cause anger, misery or despair especially if they lead a nation or a tech company!

If we replace the hyperbolic chaos with upheaval then I would agree that this is useful for personal growth, but perhaps that personal growth starts by using appropriate words that have, as far as possible, exact meanings. If you have ever faced true chaos then I wholeheartedly sympathise but if you have merely faced difficulties you will solve them much more quickly by putting them into perspective rather than trying to dramatise them.