Fate... Or Something Like It?

People seem concerned with fate nowadays. And in the light of such fact, I can't help but wonder, does such thing even exist? 21st century meets superstition.

With so many things happening every day we have stopped analyzing events and just agreed to play along. But in a world full of possibilities I couldn’t help but wonder, is there such thing as fate?  True, we all plan our days in advance, but there’s always something that will sooner or later mess up a portion, if not all, of those plans. Could this be it? Could this in fact be the famous fate everyone intriguingly talks about? Or on the contrary, do we make our own fate?

Moving to a new apartment can be hell. Moving to a new apartment in another country can be a double hell.  The other day I was hoping to finish some of the paperwork regarding my university but faced problems communicating with the people in charge; I had a feeling  I was auditioning for the ‘Lost in Translation’ movie. And there he was, a friend of my family’s who has lived in Italy for years.  I haven’t actually seen him in ages, and yet he was magically there to help me out. After finishing early I went back home just in time for my favorite TV show. Now that’s what I call a successful day.

Later that day I got to thinking about coincidences. If our lives are indeed controlled by fate then coincidences would be a part of a bigger process helping fit the pieces of a puzzle, and hence, create events. Coincidences wouldn’t be accidental; they would be purposeful, serving the greater good. It makes total sense… almost. What if this bigger process doesn’t exist? If I’m making decisions I want, aren’t I creating my own fate? It depends. It depends on lots of things and different perspectives. If fate controls it all, what is the purpose of living when our lives are already figured out by someone, or something? If I were a couple of minutes late to one of my daily routine tasks, would my life be any different? I couldn’t help but wonder, is timing everything?

                A few days ago I heard about a woman ‘getting lucky’. She won half a million dollar lottery prize; yet here I was unable to find a penny down the street. Following that news was a shocker from New York City. A billionaire had just died and left her dog, a young Maltese , 12 million dollars. Now what is a dog going to do with that amount of money? Lucky…or is it? Is luck real? I started wondering how materials can change our lives and how this change might or might not be coincidental. The odds of winning a lottery are so low that you’d need one hell of a lucky coincidence for it to happen. Which raises the question, should you count on chance, luck, and coincidence, or simply carry on with your life as someone who knows better? It’s like a Martini. You either have it at the beginning of your night to spice things up, or you have it at the end to make time pass by while you desperately wait for a ride home. Right here, right now, pick a side. You can’t have the best of both worlds.

I guess no one can absolutely be certain about anything these days. And I’ve always found it funny how we seek answers to such questions for quite some time, and when we fail to answer them we simply forget or lose interest. It’s easier to say, ’I never cared anyway!’ than ‘I never really found the answer’. Which begs the question, do we really want to know it all? I couldn’t tell. I was almost positive what I don’t know doesn’t hurt me.