Hindsight is 50/50

Hindsight is 50/50
originally written Aug. 2008

Hindsight is 20-20. How many times have you heard that phrase?
How many times have you used it?
My question - Is hindsight truly 20-20?
What is hindsight?
According to www.m-w.com, hindsight is a noun that means: "perception of the nature of an event after it has happened."
We all know what 20-20 vision is.
I have 20/20 vision and not everything I choose or do is correct. Even correct decisions can lead to disaster.
A "correct" or "right" decision today can still have an impact later.
Positive or Negative.
"Time will tell."
Oops!
I do understand what "hindsight is 20-20" is supposed to mean. But I say HINDSIGHT IS 50/50!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I am driving and decide to go left, there is a 50-50 chance that I will have made the wrong choice. If I hear about an accident on the radio that happens to be in the normal path I drive, the I have another choice to make. If I choose another path there is still a 50/50 chance I hit more problems. The percentages are endless, but the bottom line is if I choose to turn right it will be either good or bad, right or wrong, etc. etc.
Life is ultimately a choice. If we choose right we will be OK.
What is right?
Other examples.
We can choose to smoke or not. We might get cancer regardless. Or we might not.
You can choose to spend money you shouldn't. You can play the lottery. You might win, you might not. This piece was originally "Hindsight is 50/50." Then the idea of a decision not mattering or not having any impact came to light. So I changed the title and thought process to "Hindsight is 33.3333333/33.3333333."
But now I feel that a decision will either end in a positive way or a negative way, right or wrong, good or bad, happiness or sorrow, life or death.
So when you look back on life and say "I should have done this or that and things would be different."
Maybe not!
Think about that.
If you would have made a different decision, there is no way to tell where that decision would have led you to. Even when you think you should have changed a choice or decision, there is no guarantee that the choice would have made things better. No guarantee that the choice would have been wrong.
Hindsight is 50/50.