The Odds of That are.... not Odd at All

 While I was reading the NYTimes article "The Odds of That," I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The author, Lisa Belkin, describes events that happen so coincidentally that it is impossible for someone to ignore "the signs." These signs, for example, could be the seemingly impossible chances that brothers (miles away from each other) can die on the same day, in the same way, within hours of one another (this is just one example of many). As odd and eyebrow raising as that may be, the article later discusses how it in fact, is not very odd at all. It also states that, "Believing in fate, or even conspiracy, can sometimes be more comforting than facing the fact that sometimes things just happen." I think that this article devalues or takes away from the magic of chance or fate. There was another example in the article of how one person met her significant other through a chain of events that happened to just fall into place. Even though these coincidental happenings were debunked to not be as remarkable as they seem, I think we should sweep the statistical and mathematical calculations of chance aside and just take the story for what it is- something truly remarkable.