parallel line theory
by Melody Kuoch
m: Do you think we'll make it?
n: Why wouldn't we?
m: Have you heard of the parallel line theory?
n: Creating a theory for every niche phenomenon doesn't make life easier to grasp.
m: Ignoring that.
m: Parallel lines are parallel because they have different y intercepts, but the same slope.
n: Obviously, but what does that have to do with us and why you don't think we'll make it.
m: I never said I thought we wouldn't make it.
m: Anyways, the lines.
n: So I'm a line, is what you're saying.
m: No. Everything is lines is what I'm saying.
n: Not following.
m: Lines are everywhere, not just parallel ones. Straight, overlapping, squiggly.
n: Very scientific.
m: The lines around us are types of lines to us visually. An artist uses lines as a sort of building block to shape, for instance.
n: You've never been much of an artist. You think too hard.
m: Oh, touche, my love. Math is an endeavor of pure art. Lines give us the ability to comprehend what seems like impossibly vast concepts like infinity. An artist and a mathematician alike encapsulate incomprehensible meaning.
n: Through lines.
m: Precisely.
n: You never explained how this specifically relates to us.
m: We are lines thousands of miles away from each other. How could we make it with so many statistics against us?
n: Lines curve, do they not.
m: What do you mean ?
n: Maybe in a finite range a line stays straight, but when you change the range the behavior of a line may not be what it seems.
m: Logically, sure, but if a line is parallel to another they never touch mathematically. Their slopes don't allow for it. They will never intersect.
n: I guess we're not parallel lines then.
m: You can't just claim that.
n: Why can't I, I just did.
m: It doesn't work like that.
n: Why not?
m: Have you heard of the multiverse?
n: I'm sure you'll tell me.
m: There's some physics theory that says there are multiple parallel universes next to each other. Every moment of our lives, every decision we make is causing a split of our "now" selves into an infinite number of future selves all of which are unaware of each other. What if my decision to leave ruined our future?
n: You're scared?
m: You're not??
n: There's an infinite number of futures, and yet I'm certain in every one of them you're in my life.
m: You don't know that.
n: But I do.
m: How?
n: You ask too many questions.
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