What ifs...

What ifs are typically viewed one of two ways:  Either they're not worth the time or people stress about them too much.  I'm not sure in which camp I fit, but I find one aspect of them intriguing.

Movies have been attempted to deal with the issue of What Ifs.  They don't tend to work because of the nature of the medium.  But writing about them is a more sensible approach, methinks, because the permutations can be drawn out and reviewed more readily.

Everyday, people make choices as to what to do, when to do something, how to do it and what not.  What fascinates me is to consider possibilities, not known options.  Sure, had I gone out with that member of the homecoming court in high school, things might have been different.  But I'm referring to things like this:

What if I'd gotten on that train instead of the one that left a few minutes later?  What if I hadn't transferred schools?  What if I'd I'd attended a different school for my last degree? 

There are unknowables in all What If situations.  But I'm not so focused on the measurable ones (girlfriends, jobs, etc.), but the day-to-day, things that people don't have to put much effort into considering. 

For example:  Had I turned at this corner in the one a block down, might I have met a person who could have changed my life?  Would my life have ended instead?  What if I had gotten into a car with so-and-so instead of my buddies?  Would my life have turned out differently because of s subtle and unmonumental decision?

Life depends on these little choices as much as on the titanic ones.  We've all heard about the person who was late to boarding the airplane that went down, or the person who left just before the bank robbery began that ended with deaths.  Those moments cause everyone to pause and consider the choices they make.  But momentous events can come from smaller choices as well.

(c) 2013 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles