Unintended consequences

I've had this phrase rattling around in my head for a few days so I thought I'd let it get out before it hurt itself. Unintended consequences.  Sometimes we are our own worst enemies, saying or doing things without really thinking them through.  I know I'm guilty of it.  And sometimes I'm not guilty of that so much as not explaining things to others.  I'll use a recent business decision as an example.

A couple years or so ago I bought a Ford F550 truck and gooseneck trailer.

Great truck.  Pretty much did everything I asked as long as mud wasn't involved. ( A friend told me several years ago a 4 wheel drive truck will get me stuck when I'm driving a 2 wheel drive truck.  He was right.) It was great for the seed business  Aman could put 4 seed boxes on it to deliver, haul several with the trailer.  It pulled our camper like it wasn't back there.  But the more I drove it the more I felt that while I enjoyed it, it was not the best vehicle for us from a business standpoint.

Plates cost me about $300 per year.  Insurance on it and the trailer is about $580 a year.  And then there is maintenance.  I think it costs over $50 a year just for the safety tests.  I was spending close to $1000 a year before I turned the steering wheel.  I could sell the truck and trailer and buy a used semi trailer to haul more weight easier.  Plates for a semi trailer are almost free (the money is in the semi-tractor plates).  Or I could do a little modification and pull the gooseneck trailer with a semi-tractor.  Or put a ball hitch in the bed of Mom's truck.  Several possibilities.

A friend told me if I ever wanted to sell it he was interested.  So last week I sold it to him and listed the trailer on a couple online classified sites.  I mentioned unintended consequences? I hadn't really talked this through with Aman.  He saw his seed delivery system going down the road.  Kind of shook him up for a couple days until I explained my idea.

And then there are some other unintended consequences.  I forgot I had committed the trailer to use as a stage October 31 for Light the Night at church.  It isn't sold yet ... but how do I get it there?  More unintended consequences.  And come reunion time next year I don't think the little Dodge will pull my camper very well.  But we'll figure out something.

All this got me to thinking about how often we do things and there are consequences we never thought about.  Silly stuff like the time I cut the tree limb and it fell on the flashing light on the bucket truck.  Or important stuff like how my actions will affect others.  I guess it's been rattling around in my head because I have seen too many folks recently doing things like that, not thinking how what they do is going to affect someone else.  And I so want to NOT do dumb stuff like that.