The fickle finger of fate

Do you believe in fate ?
I don't believe in Tarot cards, astrology, beings from other planets watching us, fortune tellers, voodoo, ghosts, or the alternate universe of liberalism, but I am beginning to wonder about fate.
The classic Greek Tragedies deal with some fatal flaw in the main protagonist, such as pride, which eventually, inevitably brings about his final downfall. The difference between tragedy and tragic is--- inevitability. Take, for example, the common habitual drunk driver. He may get away with it for many years but eventually, inevitably he will either kill himself or some innocent person.
Thus, we can say that the life of a drunk driver was fated to end in tragedy. Pure fate, however, is quite different. Take, for example, the case of a lonely person. He or she would love to find "Mr. or Miss Right" and for several years they attempt to find that right person, without success. And then one fine summer day, as if by magic, that right person is suddenly standing before them and it all happened by freak accident.
Once, many years ago, I wanted. ever so much to find my soul mate. Oh, yes, I dated, but that certain "specialness" was always missing. Then one Saturday afternoon I decided, on the spur of the moment, to stop by and say hello to a friend. I pulled up to the curb, parked my car, and was walking toward my friends home. As I neared his walkway, I saw a vision of loveliness leaving his house. Our eyes locked for a moment and I thought I detected
the faintest of smiles. The way I remember it, my heart stopped beating, my jaw dropped and I could not breathe. An exaggeration ? Perhaps.
At that precise moment my friend rounded the corner of his house and spotted me. I quickly moved to him, grabbed his arm and said. "Who is THAT ? My God, she is stunning". He replied, "Oh, just a friend of the family". Now my heart was racing and I excitedly said, "Please, please introduce me to her. The rest as they say, is history. We married less than a year later.
Was that fate ? What if I had missed the green traffic light and I had been delayed by one single minute. She and I would never have met. Fate ? I can't say with 100% certainty, but I feel, in my heart, it was.

Re: The fickle finger of fate

Ooh, good for you bakerman.
I do so love a happy ending.

And yes, I too believe in fate.

Re: The fickle finger of fate

No i don't believe in fate. I believe in probability which can be mathematically measured and chaos theory which is found in nature. Fate is just a superstition that we adapt our internal biased models to fit. So we take two loose ends and tie them up neatly in our imagination. When there is a random coincidence we put it in a box saying it was meant to be. When there are thousands of other similar random coincidences we ignore them as alien because they don't fit into our pattern of the world. Internalising vs externalising.

I see life as a complex decision tree where you are on a road with many forks. Your choices dictate your outcome. Your choice that day was to visit your friend. You were lucky to meet your future wife. Maybe you would have met anyway because it was not that random or fated given he knew her

p.s. believe it or not I am also a die-hard romantic. I am very happy you fell head over heels at first sight. But unfortunately there is also a boring scientific explanation for that!

Re: The fickle finger of fate

One brief, perhaps silly, follow-up. All during my life their have been certain songs which gave me intensely pleasurable "goose-bumps" down my arms and up the back of my neck. One of those songs is "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers. In the 5 decades since I first heard that song it has never failed bring those goose-bumps and even a tear to the corner of my eyes.
On our very first date, I had taken my future bride out for dinner to Spenglers Grotto seafood restaurant in Berkeley California, because she had mentioned, a week of so before, that she loved seafood. After dinner, on our way to a place where we could dance, I played a cassette upon which I had recorded many of my favorite songs. When Unchained Melody played, she cried and leaned into me and said, "That's so beautiful. I love it so very much." Well, boys and girls, that was the clincher. I knew without a doubt that I had found, at long last, my intended soul mate.

From then on, Unchained Melody was "our" song. Whenever I had the opportunity , at restaurant with a piano player, or a small intimate club with a live band, I'd slip the musician a $20 to play our song. I'd take her by the hand, lead her to the dance floor, and slowly, tenderly sway to the music.

Re: The fickle finger of fate

[QUOTE=AnnieS;1240897]No i don't believe in fate. I believe in probability which can be mathematically measured and chaos theory which is found in nature. Fate is just a superstition that we adapt our internal biased models to fit.

Bakerman replies
Annie, I hope you take this in the friendly spirit which I intend. I too believe in the laws of science however
in this case I say, poo on science.

Once thousands a years ago my wife and I were a single spirit streaking across the heavens. Somehow, we split apart and fell to earth as two widely separated half souls. Generation after generation we drifted, always wondering but never knowing where our other half was. Finally, on one warm summer day, we met again, and joined together in unbounded joy.

Re: The fickle finger of fate

Feeling a bit queasy

Re: The fickle finger of fate

Im just wondering which planet he came from when he was streaking through the heavens

Re: The fickle finger of fate

Muddy wrote:
Feeling a bit queasy.

Bakerman asks:
Queasy ? Why on earth would you be feeling nauseous ?
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Eliza wrote:
"I'm just wondering which planet he came from when he was streaking through the heavens"

Bakerman replies:
More nasty remarks ? Would somebody please tell me why some people feel such a strong desire to be nasty? Does it bring them joy to make fun of people?
I opened up and shared my love of a wonderful woman. Oh, oh. Major crime.

Re: The fickle finger of fate

For what it is worth, Bakerman, I found your story romantic - I do like happy endings.

Re: The fickle finger of fate

Bakerman replies:
Thank you for your kind words.
Unfortunately, one poster found my little love story to be nauseating.