A Broken Ankle, a Sinkhole, and the Philosophy of Chance

In a personal essay for The New Yorker, the author recounts breaking their fibula after riding an electric scooter into a sinkhole on a residential street near their home in mid-June. The accident, which occurred in a second, left the author with a shifted ankle joint and a transformed life, requiring surgery and months of recovery with the ankle elevated. The essay explores how chance and fate shape our lives, drawing on literary references including Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, Solvej Balle's 'On the Calculation of Volume,' Nicholson Baker's 'The Mezzanine,' and Ian Bogost's new book 'The Small Stuff: How to Live a More Gratifying Life.' The author reflects on the sensory world lost during recovery—wind on the face, walking, cooking—and the new appreciation for small physical details like the trigger of a grabber or the brakes on a wheelchair. The essay also mentions a real-world incident: San Francisco Giants outfielder Harrison Bader was injured in a scooter accident involving a fire engine, leading to his suspension without pay. The author contemplates the philosophical tension between fate and randomness, citing Boethius on Fortune, and concludes that while fate as an idea is illogical, as an experience it is real. The piece ends with the author's plan to return to walking by October and a search for a memento of the experience.