DESTINY: DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR LIFE WAS DESTINED?

Life – a precious gift to man that is so beautiful yet difficult and complex to comprehend. Sometimes you feel you are in control of your life, other times it looks the opposite. Have you ever imagined how your life would be if you were born in a different country or to different parents? Just imagine the various scenarios. You are where you are without having a say in it. Is it by chance or was it all for a purpose that you are there? Is it your destiny? Does a force of nature predetermine our lives? Do events unfold as they are supposed to?

On a global scale, think of famine, terrorism, wars, and all the sufferings that are ravaging thousands of lives daily. Were those people destined for such calamitous lives? Did a supernatural power predetermine all those things? All the suffering, most especially by women and children such places are destined to happen? Was it predetermined for those people to be born in such areas and go through torment?

I have asked people what they think about life and destiny. The opinions are divergent. Some believe your life, success, and or failures are influenced by your decisions and that decisions determine destiny. Life is about how we plan and execute those plans. The great William Shakespeare said, “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves”.  In effect, we have the power to determine our destiny and be whoever we want to be. Our success and failures depend on us, not because a supernatural power determines them before we are even born. It is fully dependent on ourselves! Your destiny is in your own hands.

A friend once told me “… thinking everything in life was destined to happen is sheer laziness. Those who do not want to toil leave everything to destiny. When they fail they believe it was bound to happen”.  People like that do not believe there is a force of nature that controls and determines our fate. For them, life is about conscious planning and working towards our dreams. If you fail, your plans fail you, not because you were destined to fail. That sounds logical, right? Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company agrees with this, for he believes “Luck and destiny are excuses of the world’s failures”.  Barack Obama is also noted to have said “Our destiny is not written for us but by us”.

Others believe that everything happening in life is already determined. Your success or failure was determined before you were even born.  If you take a minute or two and reflect on your life, I am quite sure there were times you believe things happen because they were meant to, and things did not work out because they were not meant to. It is destiny. It was already written in the stars for you to make those bad or good decisions. They posit “Destiny can be delayed but not denied!” We have the power to determine how our lives should be.

The great Greek philosopher and emperor, Marcus Aurelius thought “Whatever may happen to you was prepared for you from all eternity, and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the thread of your being”.  The legendary pop star, Michael Jackson echoed the same thought: “I think secretly and privately there is a destiny for me and just for me to stay on that track and follow it. I really believe and feel I am here for a reason and that’s my job you know. To perform for the people and if they accept it I am rewarded”.  To him, he was destined to sing. To be a pop star to the world.

What about you? Do you believe in destiny? Well… for me, we have to set goals and work towards achieving them. If we fail we take a step back, look at what possibly went wrong, and keep pushing. Whether destiny or not we don’t have to give up. Life is a learning curve, we learn from our mistakes and that of others! If we succeed, we can call it our destiny or masterful planning, which is unimportant. The important thing is to realize our dreams and live a happy life!

Author: Razak Ayariga (The street philosopher)

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