P.S. A Column On Things

By PAUL E. SCHINDLER JR. I am from Portland, Oregon, Beaumont ’66, Benson High ’70, MIT ’74. Some things are impossible to know, but it is impossible to know these things.

There Are No Little Things 8: The Tasting

January 22, 2023

My decision to join the World Affairs Council that day during my lunch break was a trivial one. The office was across the street and the membership was cheap. I knew I needed to get out and meet people; turns out the WAC had a wine tasting that night, which fit perfectly into my empty social calendar. I introduced myself to the three tallest women in the room, and one of them chose to date me. The rest, as they say, is history.

There Are No Little Things: Explanation

Posted at 9:22 pm Permalink 1 Comment

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I agree that tiny decisions can have outsized effects (I firmly believe in the Butterfly Effect theory). But I also believe in the Bus Stop theory (I think I've invented that term): If you miss one thing, there'll be another along in a few minutes. That is, if you hadn't joined the WAC and met the Love of Your Life, you would have met someone else from some other small decision who would have been the Love of Your Life, and you couldn't imagine it being anyone else today. Basically, you can look back on all these seemingly random, small events, but the point is it had to be one of them, and the one string you're living is just the one that actually happened. If it weren't this, it'd be something else. Put another way, it's always one damned thing or another!

Posted by: Robert E. MalchmanJanuary 23, 2023 at 03:47 PM

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Paul E. Schindler Jr.

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