Patriot Realm

We all witnessed what many are calling a Divine Intervention that saved a life because of a split second decision to look at a graph. As Trump's head turned to look at something on his screen, a bullet grazed his ear and we saw a man so close to death be spared by an act of God. It was a miracle. 

It has made me reflect on quite how it happened, why it happened and whether or not is was just a simple " coincidence. " 

Divine intervention is the concept that a deity or higher power actively engages in and influences the human world and events. This intervention can manifest in various ways, often considered miraculous or supernatural, that alter the natural course of events in ways that would not be possible through ordinary means. They can be life changing. they can be small insignificant things that happen every day in our lives. 

But how many times have we said " Hell, that was lucky! " 

Only last week, I had occasion to buy a new washing machine. Yes, I know that is hardly a convincing way to open an article about the power of the universe and a power greater than ourselves. So bear with me while I explain. 

I had a height that my new machine had to be so as to fit below my wall mounted dryer. There was only one top loading machine that met my criteria but it was going to be tight: I had half an inch at most to spare. Should I take the risk? I asked Redhead to have a word with my late Dad and see if he could make sure things went in my favour. And yes, the machine was, with lid open, just peachy dandy with about a third of an inch to spare. 

There have been so many times in my life where I have said " had I not made that last minute decision, I would have been dead. " Where, had it not been for some amazing " coincidence " a catastrophe would have occurred. 

Many of us have prayed and our prayers have been unanswered. Many have not prayed, but our silent prayers were: how does that work?  And so much is put down to " coincidence. " 

In 1898, Morgan Robertson wrote a novella called "Futility," which tells the story of a massive, unsinkable ship named the Titan. The Titan strikes an iceberg and sinks, resulting in a great loss of life due to an insufficient number of lifeboats. Fourteen years later, the Titanic, an actual massive and supposedly unsinkable ship, struck an iceberg and sank in a strikingly similar manner.

The coincidences between Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy are often cited:

• Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846, Kennedy in 1946.
• Lincoln was elected President in 1860, Kennedy in 1960.
• Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson (Andrew Johnson and Lyndon B. Johnson).
• Both were assassinated on a Friday, in the presence of their wives.
• Lincoln was shot in Ford’s Theatre; Kennedy was shot in a Lincoln car, made by Ford.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s only novel, "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket," published in 1838, a shipwreck leads to four survivors being stranded in a lifeboat. Desperate, they decide to draw lots to determine who will be sacrificed for the others to survive. The chosen victim’s name is Richard Parker. In 1884, a real ship named Mignonette sank, and the survivors, also desperate, decided to sacrifice a young cabin boy named Richard Parker.

Mark Twain was born in 1835, the year Halley’s Comet made one of its regular 75-76 year appearances. Twain himself predicted that he would die with the comet’s return, saying, "I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it." Twain died on April 21, 1910, the day after the comet’s closest approach to Earth.

The first person to die during the construction of the Hoover Dam was J.G. Tierney, a surveyor who drowned in the Colorado River on December 20, 1922. The last fatality was Patrick Tierney, his son, who also drowned in the river exactly 13 years later, on December 20, 1935.

In 1883, Henry Ziegland broke off a relationship with his girlfriend, who then took her own life. Her brother, seeking revenge, shot Ziegland. Believing he had killed him, the brother took his own life. However, Ziegland had not been killed; the bullet had only grazed him and lodged in a tree. Years later, Ziegland decided to remove the tree and used dynamite to blow it up. The explosion propelled the bullet into Ziegland's head, killing him.

In 2002, two 70-year-old twin brothers died on the same day in separate but eerily similar accidents in Finland. Both men were struck and killed by trucks while riding their bicycles within two hours of each other on the same road, about a mile apart.

Three men were struck by lightning during different years in the same place in Taranto, Italy. All three survived, and each one was named Giovanni. The hotel where they were staying was also named the "Giovanni Hotel."

These stories, while sometimes hard to believe, highlight the mysterious and often surprising nature of coincidences in our world.

But one is rather peculiar and really does give rise to that feeling that something else is going on. 

Anthony Hopkins, renowned for his mesmerising performances on screen, is not the name that typically comes to mind when discussing quantum mechanics. However, an intriguing tale involving the legendary actor has sparked interest in the interplay between coincidence and quantum theory, a field that fundamentally challenges our understanding of reality.

The story begins in the early 1970s, a pivotal moment in Hopkins' career. He had been cast as the lead in a film adaptation of George Feifer's novel, "The Girl from Petrovka." Eager to immerse himself in the role, Hopkins sought out a copy of the book in various bookstores across London, but to no avail. Just when his search seemed fruitless, he chanced upon a forgotten copy left on a bench at a train station. To his astonishment, it was annotated by the author himself.

This coincidence grew even more uncanny months later when Hopkins met George Feifer. In their conversation, Feifer lamented the loss of his own annotated copy of the book in London. When Hopkins showed him the copy he had found, Feifer confirmed it was the very same one he had misplaced. This astonishing series of events exemplifies the phenomena often described in discussions of synchronicity and the interconnectedness of events.

I am a greater fan of the writings of the late great Douglas Adams who wrote about this sort of thing in his Dirk Gently Holistic Detective Agency novels. 

I was once, about 20 years ago, in Brisbane, trying to get to a venue that I absolutely had to be at on time. I had only recently read The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul and was hopelessly lost. I had no GPS because it was not au rigour in those days. At that stage, all I wanted to do was get back home and call it a day. Douglas Adams had advised that I follow someone. I may not end up where I intended to be but where I needed to be.  There was a car in front of me, a 4 wheel drive. We were both headed down a one way street in a back alley of South Brisbane looking for a short cut I would never find. " Oh bugger it! " I thought. I followed the 4 wheeler through back streets and lane ways, and within 10 minutes came to a carpark. The 4 wheeler turned left and I lost it. I looked up at where I was: it was my venue.

True story.  

Now you tell me: was Trump's head turn coincidence or something more? 

Maybe it was a coincidence. Or perhaps it was divine intervention. All I can say is that the bullet did not go where it was intended to be but it ended up where it needed to be.