The Coin Flip.

The shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others today was tragic, and I'll let others fill in the blanks, assign the blame, and decide how to proceed. I'd like to focus on Judge John Roll, his last minute, unplanned visit to Giffords' constituent meeting, and his death due to this seemingly innocent decision.

Federal Judge John Roll went to Mass, as he did every Saturday, and on his way home decided to stop and say ‘hi’ to Giffords, his friend, Dupnik
said.“He was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Dupnik said. He called Roll a brilliant judge and a fine person.

So Judge Roll gets up Saturday morning, goes to mass, and on his way home, decides to stop by to see Giffords. His appearance was unscheduled and unplanned. And now he's dead.
Let's change the equation:
Judge Roll gets up Saturday morning, goes to mass, and on his way home, decides to stop for brunch or coffee, and is late to the meeting or doesn't see Giffords at all.
Judge Roll gets up Saturday morning, goes to mass, and goes home.
Judge Roll gets up Saturday morning, but doesn't leave his home.

In each of these scenarios, he remains alive. Each choice made or not made in one's life has the power to alter the direction and quality of all future existence. This might seem like an overstatement because of all the little choices made every moment that have no consequence other than what was expected. For example, if I expect to close a window and accomplish that task successfully, no extra thought is given, and that activity is and would continue to be considered safe. What if, though, the window is warped, and by trying to push it down, I put my hand through the glass and sustain a serious of life ending injury? This seemingly innocent and safe activity has become a nexus point at which my life's direction has been altered, maybe drastically, maybe permanently, maybe terminally. Each action can have drastic re-actions even though they don't have to, even if we aren't willing to admit as such.

Our lives could actually be determined by the flip of a coin. But that's only part of the equation. The other involves every other choice chosen throughout your life that leads you to the point you are at this present moment. Think about all the "big" decisions you've made, all the major crossroads leading to the present, and where you might be if you'd chosen differently. Now, think about all the other choices you've made, the "little" decisions you gave no thought to, and think about where they might have led, had, say, other events been "tails" rather than "heads." Like, for instance, deciding, on your way home from mass just to say thank you in person as opposed to calling or sending an email.

Of course this is all conjecture. Maybe free will is illusion. When your time is up, you die, no matter the circumstance or decisions leading up to your last moment. Me personally? I have no idea, but I love the gift of my mind, and the ability consider other hypotheses, where they might have lead, as well as where I'm going on my current trajectory. It's all so much more interesting than American Idol ever could be..