Definitely A Moment ... But 'Defining'?

A few weeks ago, I came off my pushbike. This wouldn’t normally be considered an unusual occurrence, but as the people who know me would readily agree, I’m no Crusty Demon of the pedal-power persuasion.  As the fibre damage to the acromioclavicular ligament, the hairline fracture at the shoulder end of the collarbone and the many scrapes and bruises continue to heal, my mind wondered, as it has a tendency to do while I’m in the shower. I began to ponder what possible complications this might produce for me, later in life. It led me to question: In years to come, would I look back and consider this a defining moment? A defining moment! That moment, (or moments, if you are really lucky), when a seemingly innocuous event occurs, only to have repercussion which radiate out into your life, rippling change, usually for the better … but not always.

And then the core question popped into my mind: because I had identified this moment, shone a spotlight on it, would it be capable of being a defining moment? Like cutting Sampson’s hair, had my acknowledging it robbed it of the power of its potential, regardless of that potential being good or bad? I guess it all depends on if you (or I) subscribe to the whole multi-verse theory, in which case it would not be a case of was it still to be a defining moment, but more a case of how have the repercussions changed due to my acknowledging it. And if it comes to only postulating what could be the possible results of the ripples, then my mind can become a freshly tilled garden-bed of imagination ready to propagate a blooming display of alternative outcomes.

The obvious, and negative, horticulturally horrible outcome is that I’ll be plagued with every increasing and aggravating joint and muscular issues that will cause pain and restriction in years to come. Other possible flowering fates could be that in an effort to stave off these future agonies, a renewed and inspired interest in the gym could grow, bearing such flavoursome fruits as a buffed and lean harvest of a muscled me, or researching foods which aid the speedy recovery of muscular and ligament injuries. Maybe a massage business for the fibre fractured. Or perhaps the development of a concept sling for the single, live alone injured.

Of course, like the pharmaceutical companies, that’s just addressing the symptoms: what about the cause? Maybe I could design bike frames with air-bags; automatic steering correction for tram-track detection; self-inflating impact clothing; shape-shifting bicycle tyres?

Or maybe it isn’t the defining moment I’ve imagined … and in multi-verse terms, what implications could THAT have?

So can defining moments be recognized as such when they happen and their outcome predicted? Or can a moment only be classified as ‘defining’ once time has passed and a series of consequences come to bear? Can I see my bike accident as a defining moment now, or sometime in the future? Or will the scars on my shoulder just remind me of “That time when …”? We’ll just have to see.