The Odds: Cosmic Significance
If you’ve lived past fifteen years of age on this planet (and, honestly, maybe even less than that), you’ve probably found yourself saying, “small world!” at some point because of a peculiar experience you went through.
Whenever this thought pops up, I always remember these lines from the movie 500 Days of Summer:
“…you can’t ascribe great cosmic significance to a simple earthly event. Coincidence, that’s all anything ever is, nothing more than coincidence… There are no miracles. There’s no such thing as fate. Nothing is meant to be.”
While I find a lot of truth in those words, I also have my suspicions: why does the universe align some things so perfectly that it almost makes it seem like a “miracle.” And why, even though it happens so randomly, does it become one of the greatest or, on the unfortunate scenario, the worst thing to ever happen to you.
Sometimes, you look back and see exactly where and how you could have changed or avoided a situation because there were maybe too many plot holes in the story and too many ways to get out of it. Yet, here you are, in a hell of a plot twist.
Does it happen to some people more than others? I don’t know, but I think we all experience this phenomenon in life. A most recent related encounter I had is actually the inspiration behind this post.
I won’t go into the details that unfolded, but I came across someone from one of my hometowns (yes, I’m from various places) by chance — the craziest chance — because it almost didn’t happen at all and it was sort of a jaw-dropping discovery.
All I’m going to say is, be okay with accepting all of its definitions — coincidence, miracle, causality, small world — because what are the odds? Truth is we don’t really know how these almost unbelievable turn of events take place.
Oh, and make conversation with the next-door neighbor! Be curious, why not? You never really know the story you would be telling (or living) today because you went for it and opened your mouth. It could also go the opposite way, but you don’t know that. And that’s how this mystery called life works.
