We see things everyday that lead our thoughts to tell a story about what we think we know or what we think will happen as a result – a bit of a cause and effect story, where we weave the tail of what’s to come.

I was driving through an intersection, turning left, when an oncoming truck went through and a small cooler slipped out of the flatbed of the truck – the contents spilling in the center of the intersection. As I made my way around it I could see what was destined to have been someones lunch, a sandwich, water, bags of fruit, other things that I didn’t identify. I wondered if the driver realized what had happened and whether he would pull over to retrieve the contents. He did not. He continued on, unaware that he would arrive at his destination without his mid-day meal. What would happen next? Does he drive through this intersection frequently? Would he be confused about what happened, wondering if he left it at home or if someone took it? Would he find his box to the side of the rode on his way back? Why would he put his lunch box in an open bed? Would someone pull over and pick up the cooler? Would someone not see it, blowing through the intersection, hit it and get into an accident? Should I go back and set it to the side so that doesn’t happen? Would not having his lunch set him behind? Would he have money to buy another lunch or will he go hungry until dinner? Hungry? What do we know of hunger?

Just a bit down the road my grandson notices a fallen bush near a corner. He identifies that it is laying off the sidewalk and on the road and wonders if someone turning the corner will run into it. He wonders when and how it fell, for how long it will be down and whether or not someone will clean it up. His thoughts too are turning to the cause and effect of this thing we saw, weaving his own tale of what might have happened and what might come.

How many times a day do we do this and what stories do we tell?