Decisions, incisions

"Nurse, hand me that scalpel."

A decision may sometimes have life changing impact. The choice may show up unannounced, and it may suddenly demand all, or most, of your attention – to the point that not staring it in the eye will eat you alive. Or at least that's how it makes you feel – until you do decide. But how are you to decide? There's way too much at stake, here. Your future isn't just your future – it is intertwined with many other forward moving paths.

"Number 10. Hand me the number 10."

I'm pretty sure that the more monumental decisions would lead to multiverses that are rampantly different. But don't all decisions have life changing impact? I bet there's a parallel universe to all of them.

"At the junction of lateral one-third and medial two-third of the spinoumbilical line, we draw an oblique incision."

I have this theory about the 1º of change.

Imagine, on a graph, you deviate your path from the x-axis by 1º – initially, you won't even be able to distinguish your path from a perfectly horizontal line. But as you move forward, as you continue extending that line, the distance between the 1º deviant and the horizontal axis will not only become apparent, it'll keep increasing.

"You will be going home with sutures in place. You have to keep it clean, and it wouldn't harm to stay away from pets for a while. Don't take off the bandage for a day or so – you call me if there's anything about this that worries you."

A decision may sometimes have life changing impact, and even small decisions may lead to increasingly divergent paths. But incisions heal, sometimes, very quickly. Sometimes, they leave no scars behind, too. But they have to be made, in a very small pocket of time.

Time is of the essence, and even decisions come with an expiration date. An incision made a day later may have no impact at all. Would you want that, versus, say, life changing impact?

"Thanks, doc!"