*it's just a coincidence

There’s a billion coincidences everyday.  Multiply those by the billion other that coincidentally coincide with the aforementioned.

What I call a coincidence might mean something to you.

I see a feather falling, and I think only of the bird from whence it might have come.  You on the other hand, remember your grandmother.  She kept birds.  She passed away a year ago today.  Whereas, I move on, thinking nothing of the feather, you choke back a sob, but a tear still falls from you clenched eyelid.  We were connected in that singular moment, but neither of us would ever know it.

Each was a coincidence.  Together it was coincidence.

Each moment, billions of people will take a breath.  You will have taken that breath at the same time possibly as your mother whom you haven’t spoken to in years, with the lover whom you slept unsoundly with just last night.  You will have taken that breath at the same time as your pastor, your plumber, and then man who works down at the gas station that you stop by each day that you go to work.  You will breathe the same breath as a Chinese man, a Black man, a Mexican.  You will breathe the same breath as a Jew, a Baptist, an atheist, and a Buddhist.

It’s a coincidence.

Last night, you were at a party.  You had the craziest time.  You were dancing with the hottest person in the room at the one point, and almost got into the worst fight with their unhappy significant other.  You can barely remember a moment after that.  It was so much fun.  I’m sure there are ten other people at that party alone who remember or at least are trying to remember their night much the same way.  Consider that with all the parties that happened last night.  Not just your street or your neighborhood, not just your city, consider even one’s outside of America, doing whatever it is they do outside this walled in country.  That story is not your own.

You shared it with so many others.  People that you will never meet.

Have you ever had that sidelong glance?  That moment in passing where you catch someone’s eye?  They aren’t wholly beautiful.  But in that small piece of time, you feel that you know them.  There is a connection there that rivals love, but it is so fleeting that you cannot remember it more than a second later.  What if you could meet that person again?  Would it have just been a coincidence?  Or was that momentary love actually something palpable.  Could a coincidence truly occur right there on the site?  Love at first sight?

We pass by so many people every day.  People who we will never know the name of.  People who mean nothing to us at all.  We only care for the one’s we know, never for the people we have yet to know.  We all breathe the same air, experience the same things, even connect for those briefest moments carved into the hourglass of time.  But we never take the chance to say ‘hi’.

If we did, would there ever truly be a coincidence at all?  That person that watched that feather fall with you...what if you knew their story?  We all have to breathe the same air to survive...is there anything that is anymore basic...beyond that all our differences seem to pale.  And for that matter, we all pretty much party the same, too.

And imagine that each person has passed up on what fate set as their true love.  Perhaps, that sidelong glance was all the love emotion that you should have had your whole life leaping within you in an instant.  What if you had just taken the chance to say ‘hi’.

There’s a billion coincidences every day.  Imagine if every single one of them happened for a reason.

Author's Note

This was just some stream of consciousness writing. Whatever popped into my head, I wrote.
Don't judge grammar or anything, I guess just your thoughts, if you want.

Reviews

[Jūdan FyreHeart]

As someone with 'unusual' beliefs the topic of fate, conincidence and similar ideas come to my mind quite frequently. Just taking a moment to look around me and wonder, 'what if?'. If you just take the time each day you can find deeper meaning in anything you choose. It's all down to perception, personal understanding and beliefs. Philosophy, the most frustrating, rewarding and cyclical area of study.

At the end of the day, we will always ask questions we'll never know the answers to. Yet, would we really be satisfied if we learned the answers? Isn't part of the pleasure in the joy of exploration and throwing around theories and ideas?

[Susie Q]

WOW this brings many coincidences to mind & now I wish I had paid more attention, there could have been a reason for something I missed that might have turned into something very special. I especially like the line about maybe taking a breath at the same time as a mother you haven't spoken to in years (never to late). I like this story a lot, Dennis. I hope to see more like it. This one will go in my library.

[Christina May Shanaberg]

This essay regarding your random thoughts concerning "coincidence" reminded me of Robert Frost's wonderful poem on the subject, "A Tuft of Flowers." We share so much with others in the world, but seldom take the time to reflect on these things. Even a sidelong glance has some unexplained hidden meaning, such as the glancer doesn't see many people wearing a purple t-shirt with yellow polka dots (your favorite.) I, personally, believe things happen for a reason; good and bad. Every opportunity to share a smile or a "hello" with a passing stranger that is not taken is an opportunity lost to us, forever; perhaps, that fleetin moment which could have changed our lives. Great and thought provoking writing!

[Sole Grunt]

Hey this is really good writing. Definitely a brain jogger. I like it a lot.

[lindsay]

I kinda felt like I was reading my own thoughts here. It it much more than a story it felt like I was reading something from real life...saying to myself "this could totally happen" I really like this a lot. You should do more things like this.