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8/21/2003

The Road Not taken

Life is a series of choices, decisions and moments. I believe that the paths we travel during our lives are not predetermined, but instead are highly volatile. Every day the newspapers are full of stories about the choices people make. A tragic story in todays's Globe - two teenage girls are killed when the car they are riding in crashes into a stone wall. They had been walking home just a few moments earlier, and had accepted a ride from a friend. Life would have been different had they declined the ride. Last year, there was a story about two couples who happened to meet the Great White band leader at a tattoo parlor. The band member gave them free tickets to the performance that terrible night at the nightclub in Rhode Island. Three of the four were among the hundred who died that night in the fire.

These are unhappy examples of the ways a small ad hoc decision or choice can take you down a wrong path. There are just as many stories about people who had good things happen to them because of a chance event. On a whim, a Brookline man decided to buy a $2 scratch ticket at the convenience store yielded a winning ticket for $50,000. Many people have been in the right place at the right time, when good fortune smiled. Hmm. I can't really think of any others, but I am pretty sure there are more inspirational stories.

Until I can think of more positive reasons to go outside, I believe I will just stay inside today and crank up the air conditioning. Who knows what evil lurks outside.

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