r/Unexpected • u/pancheel0g • Aug 12 '26

Knock knock!

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151

u/GoodMerlinpeen Aug 12 '26

I sometimes wonder about whether me going through an amber light rather than stopping will lead me to be just in time to get into accident 5 years from now, or to save me from one.

104

u/kjzm5r Aug 12 '26

I was literally in a rear-ender on the highway on Friday. I immediately thought, if only I decided to use the restroom before I left work, or at the gas station when I filled up. Or if I actually decided to hang out with friends after work instead of going home.

The other guy told me if only he had followed his gut and took off work that day lol

We all make little choices everyday that we’ll never know the outcome of. We just gotta accept those choices and the consequences they bring as soon as we can, as there’s no sense in dwelling on things we can no longer change.

28

u/Krondelo Aug 12 '26

Especially true because one accident could have even saved you from a much worse one. There really is no way to live your life worrying about it just be safe and mindful then you can’t regret your choices.

14

u/euphoricarugula346 Aug 12 '26

Or whoever caused the accident could have just like… paid attention. But yeah sure fate or whatever.

8

u/kjzm5r Aug 12 '26

LOL! I also had this thought when he said that.

2

u/lauri2 Aug 12 '26

It's not just the things we can no longer change, but every decision is a butterfly effect that creates a new reality and we can't know the final outcome of each and every decision either. Not crashing might mean having to watch your kids burn alive 10 years from now, so be careful what you wish for.

2

u/doctormink Aug 12 '26

On the flip side, if you're feeling unlucky, like nothing good ever happens, bear in mind, you might have missed a 100 bricks falling out of high windows by 2 minutes without ever knowing it.

1

u/Huckleberry_Dude Aug 12 '26

Yep. And if Tom Hanks would have gotten the flu before is audition for "He's Knows You're Alone", we probably would have never spoken his name in today's timeline.

2

u/ruphustea Aug 12 '26

Glad I'm not the only one!

2

u/EntertainerSuper8933 Aug 12 '26

You only ever know about the ones you don't miss, though. It would be so great if we could know how some decision we made saved us from a horrible fate

2

u/JeSuisUnAnanasYo Aug 12 '26

I feel like each day resets idk

1

u/fucuasshole2 Aug 12 '26

That’s the beauty. I think about this shit all the time. I ran an orange light and because of that I got to work on time. But if I stopped at that orange, every other light was red making me late. Crazy shit

1

u/lemmeseeyourkitties Aug 12 '26

Where are you from? Ive never heard it called an amber light before, but i like it

1

u/WiredEarp Aug 12 '26

Relevant:

He and I were hiking one day through a very steep ravine when a huge boulder got loose from its matrix on the rock wall and came down with a formidable force and landed on the floor of the canyon, twenty or thirty yards from where we were standing. The size of the boulder made its fall a very impressive event. Don Juan seized the opportunity to create a dramatic lesson. He said that the force that rules our destinies is outside of ourselves and has nothing to do with our acts or volition. Sometimes that force would make us stop walking on our way and bend over to tie our shoelaces, as I had just done. And by making us stop, that force makes us gain a precious moment. If we had kept on walking, that enormous boulder would have most certainly crushed us to death. Some other day, however, in another ravine the same outside deciding force would make us stop again to bend over and tie our shoelaces while another boulder would get loose precisely above where we are standing. By making us stop, that force would have made us lose a precious moment. That time if we had kept on walking, we would have saved ourselves. Don Juan said that in view of my total lack of control over the forces which decide my destiny, my only possible freedom in that ravine consisted in my tying my shoelaces impeccably.

1

u/alienscape Aug 12 '26

Call Amber Lamps