Patterns

I grew up listening to my relatives talk about their UFO sightings and paranormal experiences. Accounts of USOs, UFOs, chupacabras and ghosts were kind of common in my hometown and the surrounding areas (Texas / México border) during the 70s and 80s.

But aside from all those fascinating stories and my own experiences, there's one mystery that tops my personal list of interests: Patterns.

Something that I know everybody notices is the pattern that becomes present when people die.

When such an unfortunate event happens, you will never hear about the first incident without knowing of "at least" two more people suffering the same fate in the days or weeks that follow.

I always kept saying to myself: "This is no more than just a mere coincidence" and then, of course, I would read and hear all kinds of theories about it. However, everything always seemed unconvincing to me.

I know that people die everyday, but when you have lived in such a small town as I have, you know the ugly dynamics of interaction that operate within a small population, and that is called: "Gossips." Everybody (unfortunately) knows mostly everything about your life and vice versa. So, if something major happened in my hometown everybody would knew about it, especially if the topic had a tragic tone. For that reason, it was very easy to notice those patterns.

Every time I heard about somebody's death, I just wanted to lock myself in the house and stay there for the following month. I know that you can die no matter where you are, but I was just very scared to know that at least 2 or more people will share the same fate in the next following days.

When an event of this nature occurs in a random basis, it is reasonable to call it a coincidence. However, I personally think that what is not a coincidence is that repetitive behavior once the first incident takes place.

What is this force, that, once it touches a spot, will sweep with whoever gets in its way?

An event of this nature hit me in a very personal way in 2001. Everything started in the block next to where my house was located. My Dad's friend (a young and apparently healthy individual) suddenly died of a heart attack. Soon after, his neighbor dies. Then I realized my neighbor (in my same block) died of cancer. Then, the neighbor in front of her house (heart attack) and then the neighbor in front of my house (cancer).

I remember being in the porch of my house talking to my Dad about the neighbor's recent death. Trying to joke with him I told him: "We better move or we will be next" we laugh and forgot all about it. But unfortunately my Dad passed away soon after of a heart attack. He was 54.

One dear friend of mine, which at that point in time was a Catholic Priest, went to my house for a couple of days to talk to me. Since he was very well versed in the theological world, I wanted to take advantage of it in order to get some very much needed answers. I tried to get more critical thinking and less of the blind faith statements out of him but my efforts were in vain. All my frustrations and unanswered questions made me the blasphemer I am today.

Let me be very clear, I have no problem believing in God, however, I have a very big problem when it comes to religion and their, very much questionable, methods.

I find it more helpful listening to other people's original ideas. From friends, to podcast guests, to reading books and watching movies like The Matrix Trilogy, The Others and The Sixth Sense; I personally think there's more truth in there than we even realize.

But one idea resonates the most: Like the unpredictable way that weather patterns seem to have, at least we know that, under specific conditions different things happen (lightning, hail, snow, etc). The unexplained is just a part of nature that eventually will be scientifically acknowledged. I wonder if one day in the not so distant future we would be able to discover and predict the elements that trigger the, so far unexplained, patterns in life.