Coincidence

Think for a moment about the meaning of the word.

Literally it means: "things that happen at the same time".

But there's a little more to it than that. Things happen together all the time, but we don't call every simultaneous happening a coincidence.

Two things happening together form a coincidence when cause and effect appear to be at work, but in fact are not.

Here is an example: A boy trips and falls while running along the sidewalk. A stranger helps him back to his feet and says: "No wonder you fell. Your shoe-laces are untied." Cause and effect? No. The actual cause of the boy's falling was a discarded banana skin that he stepped on. His fall and his untied shoe-laces were coincidence.

Human beings have a powerful need for explanations of what happens in the universe. Explanations help satisfy the instinctive ne ...