Crossing The Rubicon

Back during the times of the Roman Republic, law prohibited the Rubicon river from being crossed by any Roman Army legion. The river was considered to mark the boundary between a Roman province of Gaul to the north and Italy to the south; the law thus protected the republic from an internal military threat. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army in 49 BC to make his way to Rome, he broke that law and made armed conflict inevitable. It was at this time that Caesar supposedly uttered the famous phrase, "alea iacta est" ("the die is cast").

The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" has survived to refer to anyone committing themselves irrevocably to a risky and revolutionary course of action – "passing the point of no return".

Over the last couple weeks, I have suffered from migraines nearly every other day, awakening a very personal recognition of my own mortality and the frailty of life. I guess approaching the age of thirty has also been a large influence recently on my self-awareness that my days are certainly finite. I find myself frequently examining the times in my life that I crossed my own personal Rubicons - passing my own points of no return.

While I try to live my life without regrets, and I wouldn't change a thing in my life, I do wonder what would be different if I had made different choices during my life. What kind of butterfly-effect would a different decision in my past have on my present and future?

How many more Rubicons will I cross? What will be the outcome of future decisions when faced with a "point of no return" situation?

-- Posted from Frank's iPhone