But For

But for blah blah blah, this event would have never happened.
- Proximate Cause from Torts.

If a bird flies through the air it eventually rains in California. There comes a point where some action is so attenuated that it really had nothing to do with what happened. I can't say that this time. It appears I was a gateway between two worlds unknown to each other. When those worlds collided horrible dissonance resulted. Whoops!

If everyone is smart, they'll learn some lessons from the collision. No, that isn't quite the right statement. If everyone is smart, they will learn the right lessons from this and try to improve themselves. That I doubt.