1:22 PM - Thursday, Feb. 01, 2007
Fate or Choice?
I posted this on a discussion board yesterday hoping to get some sort of response from people, but perhaps its a bit too deep for them. Maybe, just maybe, somebody who reads this diary can respond in the comments area voicing their opinions on the matter.
I was in class on Monday listening to what my professor had to say about how Sociologists study the world. He made an "out of the blue" comment while discussing the networks we belong in. It had something to do with soulmates and true love. He said something like, "Even though you may think you have found your soulmate or your one true love, you haven't. You may be deeply in love with the person you're with but that doesn't matter. You're only with that person because of timing and availability. That person was a resource available to you through your social network when you were ready to fall in love."
A couple of years ago, my mother made a comment that was roughly the same as what the professor said on Monday. She believes that we have many soulmates to choose from, and that the one we end up with is the one who was there for the picking at the right time.
I believe that timing is everything. However, I've always believed in fate, too. I used to imagine that I would meet my one true love at some particular point in time because destiny would bring us together. I also held this opinion to be true about the friends we make in life. For example, certain events recently happened in my life that led me to a certain location where I met a certain individual who has now become one of my friends for life. Was this just some random incident based on timing and location or was it fate? Now I look back on all my past relationships with various men and I have to wonder whether it was fate they came into my life or if they were only filling one of my needs.
You can apply this to life, too. Did fate have anything to do with the social class or family we were born into? Did it play a part in the social roles and relationships we occupy? Or is it all based on chance and the choices we make while living our lives? After all, some of us are born into a world where we have the freedom to choose which direction we take our life in; but there are others who are born without this freedom. Did they choose to be born to a family living in a country where human rights are devalued? Did they choose to be born in a country whose government is corrupt and the nation is poor? They are limited in resources that people like me take for granted... but did I choose to be born in this position or was it merely fate that put me here?
Where does the line between fate and choice begin? And if there is no distinct spot, can the two exist without each other? Does "choice" exist? Does fate exist? Do soulmates exist? Or are we all just living in a random world of chance based upon the outcomes of the social network we live in?
