The mysteryof fate vs. freedom

posed was whether we were free to pave our own paths in life, or whether our destinies were predetermined at birth.

I learned a lot in that class. More importantly, however, I did a lot of thinking.

I used to be a die-hard believer in fate. I honestly thought no matter what we did, it didn't matter much because it would eventually take us to the same place anyway.

For example, I used to think of hypothetical situations and wonder what would happen had the circumstances been different.

I would imagine myself in a car. I am driving down the road and niake a left hand tum onto a side street. While driving on this street a car shoots out of nowhere and hits me. I die.

If only I hadn't made that left tum. What if I turned right instead? That car would not have been there and I would not have been hit.

Well, there is no sense in dwelling because this would be my fate. No matter which way I turned, I still somehow, some way would have ended up here anyway.

So, in this sense, there is no such thing as freedom, right?

Wrong.

A tribute to Alan Bunch

by Cynthia Macedo

A bud the gardener gave us

A grown yet still growing man

He gave it to our keeping

To cherish and understand

But just as it fully opened To the glory of the day

Down came the Heavenly Gardener And took our unblossomed bud away.

For Alan's family, a light has gone out

In their anger and sorrow, they

That is what I used to think before I took the course. What I ended up believing after much contemplation was that though our destinies may be predetermined, our everyday lives aren't.

We are free to make our own choices and decisions. We have options. Options that are not fated, rather pave the way to our fate.

I still believe very strongly in fate.

I believe that there is a person out there that is right for everyone, that there is a place in this world that is waiting for everyone and that the only person who knows our fate is God.

What I am trying to say is that there is such a thing as fate and freedom. • The choices that we are free to make lead us all to a certain destiny.

Our destiny may be fated from birth, but the choices we make affect the way we get there.

There are different pathways in our lives and depending on which roads we choose, they all lead to the same place.

Anyway, if only people would think more carefully about the choices they make, then maybe fate wouldn't be such a mystery.