I decided to hit the sack a little early last night. It had been a long day and this bicoastal life can play havoc with your internal clock where you pop up at 4 a.m. and there’s nothing to do, but by the time there is something to do, around 7 p.m.-ish, you’re already beat and ready for bed because your brain and body think it’s 10.
I curled up into bed and turned on the TV. I have two HBO channels, so it’s always hit and miss as to whether or not anything interesting is showing at the moment. I so miss Netflix and Apple TV at times like this.
Thankfully, there was a decent movie on. At least it looked decent. I must have missed the first 10 minutes because by the time I had tuned in Matt Damon was being pursued by men in fedoras.
If you think that scenario sounds familiar, then you probably saw the Adjustment Bureau. For my part, I had always wanted to see it, but since I rarely seem to ever make it to a real movie theater these days, it can take some time to catch up.
I’m not going to rehash the entire plot here. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. It has a great plot that goes something like this (and I won’t even have to give away the ending).
The basic premise is that we don’t really have free will like we think we do. Instead, there is a master plan that the “Chairman” has penned out to keep the machine we know as our world chugging along smoothly. Each of us has a part to play in the plan and for the most part those actions that we think are due to free will are actually all choreographed by the big guy upstairs.
As I watched the movie, I became increasingly fascinated by the idea. Things would go perfectly to plan if it weren’t for chance, which keeps throwing a monkey wrench into everything. It is then that the shadowy figures of the Adjustment Bureau must intervene and set things straight again.
In this case, the lead character wasn’t supposed to hook up with a woman chance had put in his path. Initially, they were supposed to be together, they were born to be together, but then the plan was changed and though they still felt an attraction, it was now verboten.
During the film, I kept thinking of my own life, as well as those of people I’ve known over the years. I could see how the real world could easily parallel this premise, with near misses in our lives where even though we wanted things to be one way, they turned out differently.
This would be all well and good if we were actually powerless in the whole plan. We would just skip merrily along in life, unaware that our choices were actually predetermined and that we were simply actors playing our parts. But chance keeps slipping the plan a wet willy.
As such, you keep coming across the same people or the same opportunities, even ones that you were sure had passed you by. You chalk it up to coincidence or the fact that it’s a small world after all, but is it? Or are we led back to certain choices to see if this time we get them right.
Perhaps the plan isn’t as hard and fast as the movie portrays. Maybe we get more choice than we think. Maybe everything is a choice and that nothing is left to happenstance.
Each idea is fascinating. Do we get second chances or do overs at times? Or are we simply being baited to make the same mistake that we already made again? Do we let the moment slip away twice, figuring that the outcome will be the same? Or do we let it slip away because we’re afraid that this time things will be different?
I do like the idea of a bunch of shadowy figures who keep us out of trouble at times and get us into trouble at others. I have actually felt the impact of such moments.
In 1993, I went to San Francisco with my then girlfriend. I proposed to her in Monterey, about a two hour drive. We were dining in a cute little Italian restaurant and the owner kept bringing us wine to celebrate, which we had also been liberally tasting for most of the day.
The drive back from Monterey to our hotel was actually 2 hours, 10 minutes. That’s a long drive late at night, even when you haven’t consumed mass quantities of mighty fine wine. Somewhere along the trip, I blacked out. As best as I can tell, I was that way for about 30 minutes.
I should have been killed in a horrific car accident. Instead, I came to on the exit ramp off the freeway. It was the ramp to the hotel, one that I had already missed twice without the benefit of wine because it wasn’t an easy ramp to figure out. I was going the speed limit, heading to the hotel when I awoke or de-blacked.
Someone was watching out for me. I wasn’t supposed to die that day. I was destined to do more here on this earth and on that day I was saved by a force bigger than me.
It was an adjustment. There have been others since. I think I’m in the middle of one now, though I can’t tell for certain as I have not passed through it yet.
Life is so fascinating. It’s such a carnival ride and I can hardly wait to see what comes next. If there is an Adjustment Bureau, keep up the good work, though I would like to have a few more “do overs.”
Out in the Emerald City keeping a weather eye out for men in hats,
– Robb