POTENTIAL

I woke up early this morning with a sudden jolting thought. What if the host opens the door with the car behind it?

Monday. The sky was light and streaked with gold. I got up and opened the window, letting the cold breeze in. I really love how the most beautiful time of day coincides with the most difficult time to see it. Somehow, the all-embracing warmth of the duvet is tough to beat at 6am on a Monday morning.

I threw on some clothes and headed out for a quick walk around the village. The dog-walkers were out. There were so many of them, I actually felt a little self-conscious for not having a dog to whistle at. Huge floppy hounds lolloped about the field while little scotties darted and yelped. Wellington-wearing walkers swung leads and tennis balls on sticks around as they went by. It was all a bit middle-England if you ask me. Thankfully, I was there - scruffy, dishevelled and dogless to meander through the picture.

If the host opens the door with the car behind it, it renders the total possibility of the car being behind either of the others as zero, in which case, you could argue, yes that an apparently independent event has changed the probability of your choice from 1/3 to 0.

Here's the thing though - if he (or she) does reveal the car, it isn't really an independent event as it alters the total balance of probability of the entire situation - the two closed doors are no longer forming an independent probabilistic system. In fact, the game is over and the idea of probability is irrelevant altogether, given that everything that could possibly happen has already been decided.

The sun winked through the trees. I thought about the way that the Earth was rolling with me stood on it, slowly being tipped towards the great yellow ball of light in front of me. For some reason, the rotation seems faster when the sun is at the horizon.

The sky filled with light and the trees fluttered their golden tops, still half-hidden in shade. A streetlamp blinked out as the day broke into the night. It all seemed really hopeful somehow, watching a new day burst into life. Perhaps it was no coincidence that the house I'd stopped outside, happened to be called Potential. I smiled upwards.

I strolled home and got ready for work, feeling grateful, alive and awake. Potential. It's so much better than probability - it's definite, like the sun rising or the darkness being extinguished by the light. It's locked inside of us, created for us by so much more than a game show host playing an odd game of chance with doors and goats. I think if we're going to change the world, if we're going to make a difference, then understanding our potential seems like a good way to start the day.