Intentions vs Impact: What’s More Important?

Say there's a woman who goes to church every Sunday, a robber knows this and plans to rob her house on Sunday. He breaks the window and sees the woman face down; he freaks out and runs away. Turns out there was a carbon monoxide problem, and she was unconscious, however, breaking the window let in fresh air and let out the carbon, the woman ended up living because the robber opened the window.

This is one of many hypotheticals that poses the question, “what’s more important? The intent behind the action, or the impact of the action?” And, as is the answer to most things in life, it depends. However, this is my blog so the first thing to write, is my opinion (perks of being the writer).

In my opinion, impact beats intention 90% of the time. If someone donates to a homeless person, who am I to wonder, “did they donate because they care, or because they want clout?” That’s harmful for me and everyone else, it doesn’t help anyone. I believe that thinking about intention is most often, illogical, it’s not something you need to think about, however, it is important what the impact is. If someone does something horrible but didn’t mean to, it doesn’t matter, you did something negative. Does that mean you deserve to be treated like crap? No, regardless of anything you should always treat people well, it will make you happier, and will prevent the person that did whatever from feeling judged.

What about that 10% of the time? I said “it depends” so in what situation does intention matter? I think intention comes into play when you are in a position where you need to know about a person. Whether that be a friendship, a business partnership, or something else that involves a long-term relationship with someone. Then it helps you to know why they’re doing the things they’re doing, why they act the way they act. Knowing these things can help you understand the person to form a better relationship with them, rather than having to wonder why, if you know someone’s intentions, it’ll make it easier for you to interact with them—especially if you have trust issues.

That’s that though. I’m a direct person and tell my intentions, no matter how selfish, quite candidly, makes life easier, and most people will answer if you ask, don’t be shy. However, do mind your impacts as people can see that directly, intention is malleable, impact is objective, that’s what I believe we should look at.