I didn't mean to...does it matter?

Isn't it true that it's rare that we hurt someone else intentionally? It's usually the unintended consequences of our intentional actions that cause others around us to suffer. And it's usually because we're not thinking of the unintended consequences when we do things; we're focused only on achieving our desired outcome.

Businesses experience this lapse of judgment as well. And that's one of the reasons for legal contracts - to protect each party against both intentional and unintentional damages. I surmise that it's usually the latter that ends up being litigated, but the purpose of the contract is also to serve as a set of boundaries for actions. No company really wants to end up in court; they'd rather have everyone play by the rules of the contract, and only use legal means if absolutely necessary.

So perhaps the idea of "social contracts" needs to come into play (not a new idea, I know). The idea that we consider, prior to engaging into a personal friendship/relationship, what the boundaries need to be in order to avoid unintended consequences (since, as I opined earlier, it's rarely the intended consequences that cause damage). This contract should then live inside our heads and serve as a way to "think before you speak/act" checkpoint, so that we reduce the likelihood of mistakenly hurting those around us.