Coincidences

"I believe in coincidence. Coincidences happen every day. But I don't trust coincidences. "
Elim Garak quoted from'Cardassians'.

Coincidences are either manufactured by mortals or they are the product of blind chance. It's the manufactured ones I don't trust; especially those particularly engineered for me.

Most of the Bajoran inhabitants of the station see their coincidences divinely sourced. I observe that this makes up a good proportion of their spiritual lives. Forinstance, the new Jumja confectionary seller Doran Matar emoted to me yesterday that it was the Prophets who had led him and his business to the station.

"For what purpose?" I probed.

"It was to save the life of a Revered monk - curator of the temple on this station. He collapsed in front of my stall on the promenade - right at my feet. It was me who attended to him and signalled a medical emergency. Clearly the prophets guided me to be there at that precise place and time to save his life." said Doran, with a voice of reverance.

"Was there no one else on the promenade at the time who could have helped this poor man?" I questioned - hoping for some reasoned debate; knowing full well that during trading hours on the promenade it was always busy.

Doran looked at me darkly. "It was the will of the prophets!. I was meant to save him. Now if you will excuse me I must see to my customers."

I turned around expecting to see a queue of hungry Jumja connaisseurs behind me. None were to be found."Who am I to stand in the way of a flourishing enterprise?" I smiled, briefly allowing the surreal moment to suspend a little more.

I continued to smile. "But before I go, you might be interested to note that Prilar Toran, ex temple curator has been incarcerated for fraud. He took half of the donations given by hardworking worhippers such as yourself to try and fund weapons for a renegade political group called 'The True Way'. Isn't it remarkable how the course of a life can change?. Good day to you Doran."

I added a polite "Excuse me." to the fictional line of his salivating customers before returning to my humble shop - to hopefully service some real flesh and blood clientel.

Open and Closed Minds

I remember one of my first conversations with Dr Bashir as this:-

Bashir: You know, some people say that you remained on Deep Space Nine as the eyes and ears of your fellow Cardassians.
Garak (astonished): You don't say! Doctor, you're not intimating that I'm some sort of spy, are you?
Bashir: I wouldn't know, sir.
Garak: Ah. An open mind. The essence of intellect.

Now who else would I consider on the station has an open mind? Commander Sisko has shown a remarkable ability to navigate through some quite difficult situations and has been open minded in many of them. He has been open minded with many of the more pemananent and dubious residents on the station. How much of the federation leadership would have tolerated Quark (a shady history from any angle) to remain on the station? Or for that matter myself? Sisko did.

Now consider Jadzia Dax. Seven life times of experience and no sign of pessimism yet. She enjoys an open minded life much of the time in her current host. Playing Tongo deep into the night with those loathsome ferengi is not a common interest amongst humanoids - that if anything shows open mindedness.

I have observed Quark and other ferengi operating according to the 'Rules of Aquisition'. So far he has survived but not especially prospered. I can't help but deliberate that if he operated outside these rules at times; the latinum laced rewards would be more forthcoming. His brother Rom is more intriguing. At first you might see a downtrodden and subserviant employee of Quarks. But at second observation there is a certain determination and tenacity shown under duress . He has hope for a more rewarding future; and that hope is not tinged in the same way of desparation shown so openly by Quark. Rom wins against Quark in open mindedness.

Chief O'Brian I have had little communication with so far. Perhaps because his experence of Cardassians to date has been in unsettling circumstances. The battle of Setlik 3 for instance. The chief seems closed on his views about my race. But his technical ingenuity and determination have rescued and rebuilt this station a number of times already. I have a certain admiration for that. Cardassian technology does not interface well with it's federation counterparts.

Major Kira - well my study of her mind could take volumes of fascinating discertation. Certainly an asset to commander Sisko in the rebuilding and running of this station. Her strength of will and passion is refreshing and represents a suprising element found in many of the of the Bajoran people - certainly underestimated by the former Cardassian prefect of the station - Gul Dukat.
Is the major open minded? In one sense she is progressive in listening to the idea that Bajor could become a Federation member. On the other hand her faith in the Prophets and her religious texts have at times been binding on some occasions but enlightening on others. A little more flexibility on her faith might have her being objective rather than subjective in her command decisions. On balance she has open mindedness but there is some ongoing internal struggle between practical decision making and deference to her faith. More on this in future log enteries I think.