"Destiny"

Destiny.

Fate.

"Will of God".

These are all excuses people make for the events which take place in their lives.

Every weekend, there is a TV show in which 4 couples compete with each other to win a car in the end. They play games, and to determine who wins the car out of the two finalist couples, they try to fit as many people as they can into the car in 4 minutes.

The host of the show asks how they feel about the competition just before they start the timer, and almost every couple puts an "Insha'Allah" and "this is fate" at the end of their speeches.

No, it is neither the will of god nor your fate which will decide how many people you fit into that car; it is how you use your time and your space: your mental ability.

 

I don't believe that anything is "destined" to happen.

If a terrorist bombs a school and children die, they were not "destined" to die, it was just an act of one reckless man who is blinded by his faith to his terrorist group.

If I get a low grade on my exam, it isn't destiny: it's because I didn't study or made stupid mistakes.

Two weeks ago, we went on a road trip, and I saw a car on the road; the dad driving, the mother at the front seat with their 2-3 year old child on her lap. Now, if they were to crash because of some reason and the child was to die, I'm sure that the parents would say "it was meant to happen", and "it is what God wants", when really, it was their fault that their child died.

About two years ago, a coal mine exploded in Zonguldak and 30 workers got trapped in there for days: none survived. What our prime minister had to say for this event was that "this is the fate which comes with this job". No, it's not fate. It's not destiny, nor is it "meant to happen". That coal mine exploded because someone didn't keep an eye on the level of methane in the air, not because 30 workers were meant to die on that day: no one deserves to die because of someone else's negligence.

Nothing happens because it is "written that way", or it is "meant to happen", or because some divine being wants it to happen that way. That child died because of the negligence of the parents. I got a low grade because I didn't study enough. 27 workers died in that coal mine because someone didn't do their work properly: if the necessary precautions were taken, if the workers were taught how to deal with emergencies, perhaps the death toll wouldn't be so high. It is people and people alone which shape their own and each others' lives, not another divine being. We make our own destiny.