Coincidence

"Coincidence" is an interesting word.

People often use it as though it were an explanation.

It isn't.

It is a description of our current inability to explain why two things appear related.

Sometimes coincidence remains the correct answer.

But occasionally coincidence is only the name we give to a pattern before we understand the mechanism producing it.

The challenge is that those two situations often look identical at first.

I have become increasingly uncomfortable with people who dismiss unusual relationships too quickly.

I am equally uncomfortable with those who accept them too quickly.

Both positions avoid the difficult work.

I have tried to remain somewhere between them.

Some days I succeed better than others.