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Category: History

Published: Sunday, March 28 2021 15:01

Written by David A. Fuess

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"He was haunted by what had been, what might have been, and what could never be."
-- Dean Koontz, The Other Emily

In every life there are nexuses where a single decision sets the course for everything that follows. While the nexus may not be recognized when it is occurring, one can almost always locate the specific moment in retrospect. It could be as simple as a high school breakup, or a pivotal moment where you planned to "pop the question" but didn't, or it could be as simple as not taking action when action was due. Those moments populate the stage with "what had been." It is in retrospect that one asks "I wonder what might have been" if I had only ... And alas, that's where the haunting begins because at this point you have already entered the "could never be" stage. You should not infer that the haunted is necessarily dissatisfied with the status quo but rather haunted by curiosity about how life would have played out had the alternate decision been made. I have had three such nexuses in my life and COVID-19 had provided the leisure to contemplate them. Now it would be interesting to compare notes with the other(s) involved to understand the effect of the nexus from their perspective and how their lives were altered for better or worse.