Serendipity surrounds us in modern life, even though we don’t often think about the serendipity involved in so many inventions that changed the world

2013-12-06 17:08

Serendipity

Hyon O’Brien
The 18th century litterateur Horace Walpole was taken by a Persian fairy tale called “The Three Princesses of Serendip,” whose heroes, as he said, “were always making accidental discoveries of things they were not in quest of.”  Walpole coined the word “serendipity,” meaning the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way; happy accidents or flukes.
In my case, serendipity seems to happen most frequently while I am browsing with an open mind in front of a book shelf. My most recent serendipitous discovery is Richard Russo, a 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner, whom I discovered when I visited a new branch library a few miles away.
I just finished reading his memoir, “Elsewhere,” a profoundly honest telling of his childhood growing up in Gloversville, New York and his tumultuous but loving relationship as an only child with his mother with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). I know I will be reading other books by him now that I have tasted his gifted story-telling in his autobiography.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, we had the blessing of having our grandchildren with us. Whenever they are here we have a daily routine. We go to a nearby park to visit the homeless cats. This time I was riding my bike with my granddaughter in the basket. In the park, I had an urge to get a picture of us together, so I stopped a passerby for that purpose.
What a delightful surprise it was to discover that the passerby was none other than a Peace Corps friend, a former volunteer who served in Mozambique. Unbeknownst to us, she lives not far away.
This serendipity delighted us. There is something magical about bumping into someone you know in your own neighborhood, especially given the fact that we are relatively new in this city and don’t expect chance meetings like that.
Another unforgettable serendipity happened 15 years ago in Hong Kong. One day, I got on a mini-van from the Star Ferry stop to ride home. Three Japanese tourists got on the bus as well.
However, they got off the bus in Wanchai after only a couple of stops. I had a meaningful look on my face observing that occurrence when my seatmate, a total stranger, turned to me and said, “Are you thinking what I am thinking?”
So I nodded and smiled. What were we thinking? We thought that they should have taken a taxi and paid less. With the camaraderie arising from our similar observations we introduced ourselves. It turned out that Claudia was serving as the Consul General for Columbia.
The only reason she was on that minivan that particular day was to visit her friends at the last stop of that van’s route, so it was pure chance that we shared that ride. We are still friends.
The last time I saw her was three months ago in Madrid where we dropped by to see her and family at the conclusion of our tour in the southwest of France.
We laughed again, reminiscing about the way we met in Hong Kong. Somehow repeating the same story about how we became friends doesn’t seem to diminish the sense of wonder we feel about that serendipitous bus ride in a third country.
Serendipity surrounds us in modern life, even though we don’t often think about the serendipity involved in so many inventions that changed the world.
Let’s consider the case of penicillin. Sir Alexander Fleming was researching a strain of bacteria called staphylococci. Upon returning from holiday one time in 1928, he noticed that one of the glass culture dishes he had accidentally left out had become contaminated with a fungus, and so he threw it away.
It wasn’t until later that he noticed that the staphylococcus bacteria seemed unable to grow in the area surrounding the fungal mold, which led him to the powerful antibiotic.
How about Post–It notes? In 1970, Spencer Silver, a researcher for 3M, had been trying to formulate a strong adhesive, but ended up only managing to create a very weak glue that could be removed almost effortlessly.
He promoted his invention within 3M, but nobody took any notice. Four years later, Arthur Fry, a 3M colleague and member of a church choir, was irritated by the fact the slips of paper he inserted in his hymnal to mark the pages would usually fall out when the book was opened.
Fry remembered Silver’s weak glue and applied that weak yet non-damaging adhesive to his bookmarks. To his delight that little sticky markers worked perfectly. He sold the idea to 3M and trial marketing began in 1977. Today we can hardly imagine life without them.
I won’t go into the accidental inventions of the microwave oven, ice cream cones, vulcanizing rubber, champagne, and the many other examples of serendipity that have improved our lives.
Suffice it to say that I am a firm believer in serendipity and always look forward to more serendipity to surprise, delight, enrich and add spice to our sometimes predictable, mundane but comforting daily happenings. All cases of serendipity are God’s gracious gifts.
Hyon O’Brien is a former reference librarian now living in the United States. She can be reached at hyonobrien@gmail.com