Ellery Queen
I've been thinking about coincidences, about the way that things happen at the same time apparently solely by chance. I've always had a hard time accepting that things happen by coincidence. I usually think that things happen for a reason and that cause and effect relationships are responsible for most things that happen at or about the same time. Many simultaneous occurrences that some attribute to chance seem to me related; at least, I wonder about and look for cause and effect. For example, someone will approach me with a thought about something I was thinking about at the same time. I wonder if I may have somehow revealed what I was thinking. When two people reach the same conclusion at the same time without open consultation, I wonder about covert consultation. But I'm beginning to accept coincidences. That is, maybe things do happen at the same time, in a certain order, entirely by chance.
How else should I explain the following? For over 50 years, my favorite books have been the mystery novels of Ellery Queen. Ellery Queen was the pseudonym of two cousins who formed a writing partnership that lasted over 40 years. Although the partners wrote other novels and their principal character enjoyed success in radio, television and movies, my favorite novels were the ones that included a geographic reference: Roman Hat, French Powder, Greek Coffin, American Gun. In a possible coincidence, one of my favorite Ellery Queen novels, the Chinese Orange Mystery, involved another favorite hobby, stamp collecting. And my recent great interest Anna May Wong was the co-star of the movie Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery. Finally, we'll be observing the one hundredth birthdays of both Ellery Queen and Anna May Wong during 2005.
I've decided to be more open to the possibility of coincidence but to continue to look for causal relationships. Is it possible that important events involving many things I've enjoyed in my life have come together at this time completely by chance or is there some cause and effect, some purpose? I'll be thinking about it.
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM YOUR INTERNET GRANDFATHER
12-27-04
[The Internet Grandfather will be traveling again during the month of January so new columns may not appear every week. But rest assured that I'm thinking about my readers. I expect to return on February 3, 2005, at the latest, with renewed vigor.]
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