Let the Sky Fall

The other night when I was in the kitchen cleaning up, I turned and bumped our glass measuring cup over the edge of the counter.? I saw it fall in slow motion, shattering on the floor.?

Later, after we cleaned up the broken shards, I found myself thinking about that measuring cup, and the stories woven into all our possessions.

It was just a run-of-the-mill Pyrex measuring cup. I bet we all have similar ones in our kitchens. Yet still I felt a fleeting pang that it was gone — a brief recognition of the life events that occurred during the 25 years I owned it.

I remembered buying the cup in graduate school, when I was sharing a big house with fellow students. I was living in that house when I got my first pet — a cat.?? When I broke my ankle sprinting to catch the bus.? When I drank beer and played darts and discovered independent films.? When I wrote and published my first scientific paper.? Good times.? In that house, I met friends I'll keep for the rest of my life.?

Sometimes I think about how the little things matter and can affect the paths of our lives. ??I wonder whether anything would be different for me if I hadn't bought that measuring cup.? Or if I had bought it from a different store, or even if I picked a different cup from the store shelf.??

Would my life be different, even a little bit — if I had left the cup behind during one of my numerous apartment changes in my early adult life?

Would I have made the same friendships, or met the same, special person who became my spouse?? Likely.? Would I have gotten my same first job?? Would I have had the same ideas, carried out the same research, and written the same scientific papers?? Probably.?

But who can say? It could all be different.? In small ways, and maybe in big ones.?

It feels slightly disconcerting how seemingly tenuous my life path is — how it can depend on something as small as a Pyrex measuring cup.? Because I love the path I'm on.?

When I think about my life this way, I sort of feel like I owe that cup a silent 'thank you.'

Fortunately however, before I started despairing too much the tenuousness of my life path — I remembered that this same topic pervades the best James Bond movie of all time.?

Skyfall.?

Some say Sean Connery was the best Bond ever, while others argue for Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan.?? For me, it's Daniel Craig — and it's not even close.?

Skyfall is a 2012 masterpiece, directed by Sam Mendes and featuring a cast of highly accomplished actors, beautiful cinematography, and a compelling story of revenge, redemption, and loss.? And at its core is the smartest, most charismatic, and most crazed Bond villain of all time — masterfully played by Javier Bardem.?? If you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend you check out Skyfall.

But why does a broken measuring cup make me think of a Bond movie?

One criticism of Skyfall is its implausible storyline, with some arguing that the villain's revenge plot relies too heavily on coincidences happening just right. And that the entire plan crumbles if even one of a cascade of well-timed events is a little bit off.? Bardem's super villain wasn't a genius, they say.? He was just extremely lucky.

[To which I say — it's a James Bond movie.? Why were you expecting realism?? Bond is always about sensational, over-the-top narratives — that's what makes them so fun.]

I like thinking about the infinite number of other, possible Skyfalls.? What if James Bond had been killed by the assassin's bullet in Instanbul, instead of merely wounded?? What if he had fallen to his death from the Shanghai skyscraper, instead of sending his foe plummeting over the edge?? What if he had been eaten by the Komodo dragon in the Macau casino??

Or, less dramatically, what if Bond had just gotten stuck in London traffic, and missed his flight?? Or stopped to tie his shoe?? What if Bond had needed to fill his car with gas, or use the restroom, during his escape to Scotland?

All of those Skyfalls are possible — an infinite number of them.? They're a sort of Feynman path integral of Skyfall movies.

And happily, the one we actually get to see is the most entertaining one. The one they made into a most excellent movie.?

The one where all the coincidences line up just so.

The beautiful broken plate photo by Chuttersnap is available on unsplash.com

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