Tick tick.

The sound at the traffic lights was barely audible above the noise of the busy city street – the cars rushing by, the people laughing and chatting incessantly, the woman on the corner preaching some new order, the man outside the station entrance playing the guitar beside his dog, the salespeople standing outside stores with microphones. When you are in such a rush, time seems to slow and yet you fail to notice these things – they simply are faded into the background and ignored.

Yet you notice the ticking, holding you back, reminding you to wait until the time is right. You stand there, waiting for the sudden increase in ticking and transformation of the light to depict the green walking man. It is almost as if the green walking man will set you free, opening the barriers holding you back so you can race forward. Forward to the ext intersection, and the next, however many it takes until you get to your destination.

These journeys, as simple as they seem are capable of impacting upon one’s life more than you can imagine. One moment of hesitation here or there, one small decision to take this route or that, to stop by this store or that one, to cross the street at the lights or not – these are just some of those insignificant decisions that can change your life.

This is the story of Matthew, one such example of how a simple journey spanning no more than four blocks can turn the world as you know it upside down. But at the end of it all, the question that will still keep you wondering – if he had known the consequences of that one small trip, would he have still left the house that day?