Fate
Is there such a thing as Fate, or Destiny? If so, apparently, I wasn’t destined to believe in it. On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of Free Will either. Within limits, it seems, we can make small choices. But overall, there’s simply too much going on for you or me to have any significant effect on what happens.
This must be why “power” and “control,” while largely illusory, are considered so desirable in the relatively manageable world of human affairs. People at the top, in government or business, can decisively affect other people’s lives, in terms of income, status, health, and happiness. We all know how, throughout history, certain “tyrants” have abused such powers, to dominate, enslave, even exterminate, large numbers of their fellow humans. But I am glad to see what appears to be a growing trend in the opposite direction – especially for people with great wealth – to devote significant proportions of it to benefiting their fellow creatures. It seems to have begun within the past two centuries, with people like Nobel, Rockefeller, and Carnegie – often with riches questionably acquired – people who became known, as “philanthropists,” which means lovers of their fellow-men.
But now there’s a new phenomenon, of young people who acquire vast fortunes by actually benefiting humanity, often as a result of technological breakthroughs, who then apply those riches to further advance and improve the human lot, in such fields as medicine, education, and even such basics as agriculture and water supply. I shamelessly admit that people such as these, whose names are familiar to everyone, are among those honored in my none-too-crowded Hall of Heroes.
But if Fate really does play a role in the fortunes or misfortunes of this world, one would expect that some gifted seers might somehow have special contact with the forces of Fate, and be able to foretell oncoming events. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, despite thousands of years of experience, and all kinds of scientific investigations, there hasn’t yet been produced any authoritatively verified data substantiating such claims. The best any researchers have been able to offer are certain individuals who can consistently make better-than-average scores in foretelling the results of such tests as a series of coin tosses. Even these people, however, have not been able to reap great riches at Las Vegas – or if they have, it hasn’t been widely publicized.
The Bible would have us believe in all kinds of valid prophecies, from Noah building his Ark in advance of the Great Flood, to Joseph correctly interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh in terms of a series of years of plenty and years of famine. But in the verifiable historical record, one finds nothing to strengthen anybody’s belief in an ability consistently to predict future events – only single instances, often in works of fiction, such as Jules Verne’s imagining that the first voyage to the moon would be made by Americans, and would take off from Florida.
Those who truly believe in Fate must make very poor prospects for insurance salesmen, for fatalism invalidates the whole concept of risk. As the fatalistic sailor, who refused to learn to swim, put it: “Either I am, or am not, fated to die by drowning. If I am, no ability to swim will save me. If I’m not, making the effort to acquire that ability will be a waste of time.”
Most of us, however, are willing to acknowledge the validity in our lives both of chance and of precaution. The uncertainty, plus the limited ability to foretell and prepare for outcomes, is, for many, what gives zest to life. As the expression goes, “That’s what makes horse-racing.”
Being ready for trouble is about the best any of us can realistically do in the face of inscrutable Fate. The trouble is that the worst kind of trouble is the kind it’s hardest to be ready for, because it comes so unexpectedly. Insurance companies, of course, know all about this, and that is why they have an awesome category of risk called “Acts of God,” which, if such Acts are covered at all by your policy, you’ll have to pay more to be protected against.
But ultimately only your own attitude can properly fortify you against misfortune. As one of my favorite poets, A.E. Housman, put it:
The thoughts of others were light and fleeting,
Of lovers meeting, or luck, or fame –
Mine were of trouble – and mine were steady –
So I was ready, when trouble came.
