What If

You're a man haunted by those two most terrible words: What if?
- Morlock to Professor Hartdegen, in The Time Machine (2002)

Every day, we make a million decisions.  While a few may be large, the vast majority are miniscule:  Shall I have cereal or eggs for breakfast?  Should I use this word, or that word, in this e-mail?  Should I watch this movie, or that movie? We ponder momentarily and we select: Option A, Option B, Option R.  Decision made, we move on to the next choice, and so it goes - the next day, the next week, the next year.

With billions of individuals going about their daily activities, an astonishing variety of happenstances occurs.  Person One decides to go to the post office before the grocery store.  Person Two decides to visit the post office after the bank.  Lo and behold, Person One and Person Two stand adjacent to one another in line to buy stamps and mail packages.  A chance meeting, a smile or a few words exchanged.  The interaction may be forgotten when each person concludes his or her postal business for the day, or it may be the kernel of a budding friendship that will span years. The possibilities, wrought by all the choices, are many.

What is fate?  Perhaps it is nothing more than a particularly momentous occasion of chance.  All the decisions that are made, large or small, result in a particular confluence of circumstances that significantly impacts the path that we follow.  To be at a certain place, at a certain time, with (or without) certain individuals - it might be unimportant, or it might change everything.

Ten years ago tomorrow, a tremendous, terrifying, life- and history-altering moment occurred.  As the United States as a nation, and the world as a whole, contemplates the attacks the occurred on September 11, 2001, innumerable "What ifs?" permeate so many thoughts.  What if the responsible individuals had been delayed in traffic and missed their designated flights?  What if one person had decided to take a half-day off to attend to miscellaneous matters instead of going as usual to work in the Twin Towers? What if another person had decided not to take a sick day? 

What if Herself's parents had chosen September 11 instead of  September 4 to take that particular flight out of Boston?

The families of those who perished that day, as well as the chance survivors, still are learning to cope with the unique echoes of their individual "What ifs?"  Furthermore, in the decade of aftermath, thousands of individuals in our armed forces have faced their own choices, chances and fates as a result of the "What ifs?" of that one day.  It is almost unimaginable.  It is certainly incomprehensible.

For all those burdened by a "What if?" on this terrible anniversary -- be it related to September 11, or be it your own personal question -- I wish you endurance, hope, and healing.