Let's talk about fate. I mean, fate is one of those unfortunately cool words that happens to get a lot of attention. Whether it is a silly romantic comedy, the end of the world, or falling down the stairs; everything seems to be able to be blamed on fate.
"Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences."
J. K. Rowling
Thank you Joanne Rowling for saying something I can get behind. One of the central focal points of my life is choice. I believe more completely in individual choice than in anything save the existence of God. Now, I'm going to get a bit religious for a second here. God put us on earth for a purpose. He put us here to: get a physical body, to aid Him in giving bodies to more of his children through marriage, and He put us here to take on the burden of choice. It is how we choose to live our lives that will determine what comes after. When I say we, I mean you individually. We are not a collective, my choice today may affect your life or influence a choice you make, but in the end the choice is yours.
Now, along with choice comes accountability. This is a concept that I believe is fading from the world. Bail outs, parents lying and going to prison in order to protect their "innocent" children from the foolish mistakes they have made, the age old conflicts of race and gender, the list goes on; each of these examples present a method for people to forestall their accountability and hand it off to someone else. Is this okay? I would say no. You make the mess, you clean it up.
So, I know many would say, "stop being so narrow minded, there are people that are forced into the life they have." Well, unfortunately no, I'm sorry, save a few outstanding circumstances we all make our beds. Young children are an outstanding circumstance, some forms of mental health issues are outstanding circumstances, but living in a poor neighborhood or a rich one is not grounds for exemption from accountability. If you have the ability to make a choice, you have the ability to change your position. Guess what, you can do it on your own too. You don't need free health care or government money. Now, I am not, repeat NOT, saying that choice is an easy burden. I am not saying that it doesn't weigh more heavily on some than others. I am not saying that simply by choosing to change you will, change requires action and action is a choice in itself.
It is my belief that fate is flawed. It is a very romantic sentiment, true, but I will not (and nor should you) enslave yourself to it. Choose to act, choose not to; but stand accountable for your choices, for what is life but what we choose to make it? No one can do it for you, not even if they tried, because in the end it is all on you. You choose to let someone take a fall for you, its on you. You choose not to steal from someone, its on you. You choose to hurt someone you love, its on you.
Bravo. I think this is so true. It is easy to blame our actions on our circumstances or how other people treat us and make excuses for ourselves. I would only add one thing - (which you already know) - when you say "God put us on earth for a purpose", that really means, God gave us a CHOICE to come to earth so we could fulfill a true and eternal purpose. meaning, we already made the grand decision to follow Him and come to Earth to fulfill His plan and to continue our journey progressing, why would our existence on Earth be any different? I'm trying to say, if we CHOSE to come here of course we are going to be responsible for all our choices while here.
ReplyDeleteAlso I just thought of something but forgot it. Darn it, I hate it when that happens.
you may not choose the postion you find yourself in, but you ALWAYS choose how you respond
ReplyDeleteon school break take a read: "the hiding place"