How many of you are ‘out there’ anyway?
Wikipedia graphic showing two versions of Schrödinger’s Cat.Long-time readers of his blog know I subscribe to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which states that when an alternative choice exists, both outcomes occur—one in another universe. If so, then when I decided painfully not to go to Sweden in 1967 with a young woman I was dating in a Dutch work camp, I actually did go home with her, and that existence is ongoing in a universe far away.
I don’t know how to visit that other universe to see how things went.
But I have always wondered. Anna and I might have gotten married in Göteborg (shown in the photo). I would have learned Swedish and looked for a job–with the assistance of the Swedish government as a requirement for being granted asylum. While I thought I might never see the U.S. again, Jimmy Carter granted amnesty in 1977. Would I have come home? Well, probably for a visit. Obviously, I know what happened here that would not have happened if I had chosen Sweden.
Even without the quantum factor, I think most of us wonder what life would have been like if we’d moved to another state, taken a different job, or married a different person. Over time, I’ve made a lot of bad choices–how different life would have been if I hadn’t!
In 1967, I thought leaving Anna and Sweden was a bad decision. I don’t ponder it often now because that would be a discount of all the good things that occurred in my life as it has been. I have no idea how Anna’s life unfolded because we decided it would be too painful to stay in contact. In later years, I looked for her unsuccessfully. That’s probably a good thing since in 2024, I can’t imagine not meeting and marrying my super wife or being without my cool grandchildren.
So, I believe we can always “have our cake and eat it too” even though I don’t know how to savor that experience.
Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of magical realism and fantasy novels and stories; that shouldn’t surprise you after reading this post.
