You could hear the child’s screaming above the loudspeaker blaring announcements.
He was 7 or so, dressed in the event-issued jersey, looking like the 1200 other kids taking part at the annual TRYathlon event. He was lost & terrified. Worst of all, he didn’t know how to find his mother. A volunteer kneeled down beside him, trying to pacify him, & to walk him to the information marquee that was just a few metres away.
Two other things also happened simultaneously. The compere’s voice, calmly, announced that a mother was looking for her lost child. The mother, wailing as loud as the child, with another little crying bub in her arms, rushed out of the crowd, from the direction of the information marquee.
The tears & the wails continued loudly, but this time in happiness at the family reunion.
In the moment, there was a possibility that the child might never see his mother ever again.
In the moment, also, there was a probability that the child would be quickly reunited with his mother.
For the child, there was no difference between possibility & probability.
For the mother, fear triumphed for a brief moment – so there was no difference between possibility & probability either.
I saw them a little while later. The young fellow, with an ice-cream in his hand, sweat on his brow, and a medal around his neck, was beaming from ear to ear at having completed his first ever TRYathlon. So was his mother. Neither looked frightened.