Coincidence Or Not

Suppose you randomly think about an old friend you haven't talked with for some time.  You look her up and say hi.  She responds back and you have a chat.  She is totally excited to talk with you and you share old stories while getting caught up on all the time that's passed.  Then you find out that not all is happy with your friend.

She has actually been having some problems, emotional, spiritual, and family.  She has been in a low point and has been feeling very alone.  You continue to chat, share some personal stories, tell some jokes, and give some advice.

By the end of the chat, she is feeling much better and much stronger.  Now I ask you, was it a coincidence?  Did you just so happen to think about your friend and decide to act on those thoughts, on top of her actually being available to talk and sincerely needing it?  Or was there something else involved?  Were there other forces at work, pulling on strings to make this happen?

The argument can easily be made either way.  On the one hand, all one needs is a little faith or superstition to believe that higher powers were at play.  On the other hand, there have probably been several times where it would have been beneficial to have talked with her and you didn't, so maybe this was nothing more than a coincidence.

I take a slightly different stance from either of those two. I say: who cares?  Whether it's a coincidence or not, it's still great.  You still got to talk to your friend.  You still got to make her feel better.  Regardless of the who, how, or why, this thing happened, and it was a great thing.

Writers are so very focused on meanings as well as causes.  Nothing happens by sheer coincidence.  There is always a reason, whether it be destiny or it be the direct result of a previous action.  Pure, random coincidence is like a sign of bad writing.  However, I would still reiterate my previous belief.

Who cares?  Writing too often focuses on why things happened.  Don't worry whether or not something is a coincidence, only worry that it happened.  Let the readers debate why.