by Sandy Cody
Do you have favorite words? I do. Serendipity (a seeming gift for
making fortunate discoveries accidentally) is high on my list of darlings.
It comes from a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip, in which three princes are sent on a quest by their father and discover wonderful things for which they were not looking.
I only learned recently about the fairy tale origin of the word and, when I did, I instantly thought of Albert Einstein's statement that “If you want your
children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.” He's right, of course. Not only will their imaginations take flight, they'll probably discover something they didn’t
know they were looking for - and so will you.
Whatever its source, serendipity is an impressive word. Some words
please because of the way they sound, others because of what they mean. Serendipity
works on both counts. When you say it out loud, the five syllables produce a
tripping sound, forcing the lips into a smile. It starts slow and then picks up speed until
it tumbles out, like it’s rushing toward a happy surprise, which, of course,
fits its meaning perfectly.
There are other words that mean almost the same thing - chance,
fate, destiny, karma, fortune, coincidence, accident, kismet - but for my
money, none of them quite measure up to serendipity.
Not only is it a great word, it’s an appealing concept, a reason to
leave ourselves open to the unexpected, to pay attention to where life may
be trying to take us. Who knows what wonderful things may be waiting to be discovered? History books are filled with examples of happy accidents.
I understand chocolate chip cookies were created by a
serendipitous accident (thank you!), as was the discovery of penicillin (more
thanks). The microwave oven was invented when Percy Spencer noticed that the
microwaves from a radar set he was working on melted the candy bar in his
pocket.
As for
me, I met the love of my life when I cut an algebra class to go ice
skating. How could I not appreciate
serendipity?
How about you? What serendipitous events have changed your life?
