Tempting Fate

A chat with a dear friend tonight, got me thinking about Fate.

Yes, Fate.

You can't foresee it. You can't anticipate it - there's no pattern, no rhyme, no reason. Sometimes, it's on your side and sometimes, it's not. Regardless of the effort you make - you can try very hard and still fail or not try very hard and yet succeed. The best laid plans can go wrong or the lucky big break, could make things better than good.

Sometimes, you ask for it and sometimes, you don't and it just unexpectedly turns up, at your doorstep. Sometimes, it becomes a convenient blaming point for our omissions and lack of effort.

And on hindsight, good or bad, we always accept it. For some of us, it's a pillar of belief in our religion - the conclusion decided for us, by the Almighty.

Whether we understand it or not - we believe that whatever has happened, has happened for the greater good. An assumption of "hikmah" is always there - that there's a point to all the things that have happened to us - which may or may not be apparent to us, in future.

And to me, this is what makes the human being a spectacular creature.

We work hard in any area of our lives to improve our probabilities of a desired success. Because, we don't know what the conclusion will be. Even if there is a 1% chance of failure - it could still happen. And if that 1% probability materializes, chances are, most of us will blame it on Fate.

And move on from there. And come back to fight another day, tomorrow. Again, with no guarantees of success (or certainty of failure) - the human spirit is a resilient thing.

Because it dares to dream. It dares to desire, to ask for more, to relentlessly pursue, to risk failing. But we come back each day, to increase our probabilities in achieving what we want to achieve - be it in our careers, our personal and family life, our contribution to public life or our efforts for the next world.

We do our best and we look towards Fate to smile towards us and grant us our wishes. And we pray too, so that God may sway Fate's lovely touch to our lives, perhaps in the form that we want it to take.

Fate may choose to be kind to you and give you what you want. Fate may surprise you and divert you from your original plans. And yet the conclusions could be better (or worse) than what you had planned.

Fate may choose to be cruel to you and take away what you have or deny you the thing that you want most. Or it may act cruelly, to be kind to you - the recognition of such hidden blessings, is on the reflection of the thinker.

Or Fate may deprive you the opportunity of trying altogether, in some cases. Fate may cripple you in any way it chooses - be it via a man-made or God-made disaster.

Some get frustrated and never try again. And they leave it to Fate to decide where they will end up. Even the conclusion of an act of omission, of doing nothing and "drifting" - may be considered Fate. And because we didn't make an effort, we attribute where we've ended up, to Fate. A cop-out blamed on God.

Fate is like being married to a Roman Catholic woman. You may think her unpredictable, fickle, volatile. You may love her or hate her. But you're stuck with her for your lifetime.

And that is how mortal we are. A bunch of creatures, running around, chasing probabilities but submitting to the mercy of Fate, when things do not go as planned. It gives an entirely new paradigm to the word - powerless. We are not in control of anything - except for our own willpower, deeds, prayer and efforts.

If you think about it, even living is an act of submission to a Higher Power. Because it recognizes that we have no control over the final conclusion - we can only try to tempt Fate and improve our probabilities of success. Nothing else.

But human beings strive everyday of their lives. For need, for survival, for want, for greed, for lust, for self, for others. But we keep on dreaming, we keep on planning and we keep on striving, despite numerous setbacks and failures. Each attempt, laced with the hope that Fate will smile on us, this time round.

The truth of the matter is, we strive because we have an internal need to strive. It's an attitude, belief and effort that overcomes the sense of powerlessness, we feel.

And if that's not enough, we alter our perceptions to suit our preferred realities -every glass is half-full, every success is due to a formula and goes to those deserving, every failure is a lesson, every obstacle is a challenge, every calamity is a test for the good/punishment for the evil and every mind is limitless.

And we need to give a reason and justification to everything. So that we may believe in a just world - where good people get their rewards and bad people their just desserts. It's too disturbing for us to think that misfortune and calamities are random.


But go on. Dare to dream. Make your plans. Do your best. Because you need to believe and striving for things in this world or the next, gives you a purpose. And purpose gives your life meaning.

Man proposes, God disposes. That is the final truth.

And whichever way Fate turns and becomes a verdict on your plans, efforts and dreams, at that particular time - accepting that conclusion is an act of submission. Both in gratefulness or in overcoming disappointment.

Only grief, fear and resignation can keep you away from His blessings and providence. Giving up out of fear of disappointment, frustration or failure, is an act of an ingrate. One who refuses to submit to a Higher Will.

And bouncing back and striving again on another day, more informed, more determined, more knowledgeable, more refined, more resilient, more patient and with your faith intact - that is what makes us, God's finest beings.

And to take another gamble at life, to tempt Lady Fate. Don't be afraid - go on and roll that dice.

Since you're not in control of any conclusions and neither is anyone else - what have you got to lose?