Coincidence
A coincidence is a concurrence of events or circumstances that have no apparent causal connection with one another. There are minor coincidences we note every day, like “Oh, ny brother’s birthday is the same as yours” or “You love caramel? I just had caramel yesterday.” In other words, trivial. But occasionally there are some that make one wonder. One we had recently really amazed me.
Two days ago we went to a local restaurant and after a while began a conversation with a woman at the next table. We mentioned that we lived at the Woodlake Condos. “My sister lives there” she said. “She’s in the Netherlands right now.” I said “Our good friend and neighbor is traveling there right now.” She asked if our friend is named Linda. “Yes, Linda T.” “OMG, they’re traveling together.”
This made me remember another neighbor coincidence. As we were getting to know the man across the pond from us, I mentioned I had grown up in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (This is a very small Milwaukee suburb). He stared at me in amazement, and said he had lived there for two years as a kid. Further conversation revealed that he had lived across the street from my folks, and we had each had the same biology teacher.
During our trip to Malaysia we spent a little time in Singapore. Our tour, led by someone who I would generously describe as an amateur, had booked us a harbor tour, which was actually quite interesting. The boat was crowded, filled with folks from many countries, with an audible blur of different languages. Suddenly a young woman a few seats away screamed "OMG. OMG. That's my cousin in the front seat."
They made their way toward each other, exclaiming with emotion and obvious delight. Having captured the attention of a goodly number of passengers, she stood up and explained. She had not seen this cousin for a decade, they lived on opposite coasts in the U.S.A., and neither of them had the slightest idea regarding the other's travel plans or, for that matter, travel proclivities.
Wiki says: A coincidence lacks an apparent causal connection. A coincidence may be synchronicity — the experience of events that are causally unrelated — and yet their occurrence together has meaning for the person who observes them. To be counted as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance, but this is questioned because there is usually a chance, no matter how small and in vast numbers of opportunities such coincidences do happen by chance if it is only non-zero.
Have you ever experienced a stunning coincidence? More than once? Does it seem mystical or magical?
Plutarch (born 46 CE,) said:
“It is no great wonder if in the long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur.”
