Whenever people say the phrase “everything happens for a reason” I go ahead and shudder. For the longest time, I couldn’t even tell you why, something about the phrase just didn’t make sense to me. And then it dawned on me. It’s because it doesn’t make sense. I don’t buy it. I think a better phrase would be “everything happens.” Bad things happen to us, and good things happen to us. And in between, a lot of meaningless neutral things happen. When the bad things happen, we suffer through them, and when the good things happen, we savor them. We make the most of what we are given. Things that happen that “have a reason”, to me, are serendipitous occurrences that send our lives in a direction that leads to more happiness. It is in the recognition of the catalyst moment of the positive change that peoples’ opinions stray anywhere from a “reason” to plain dumb luck. On the exterior, this way of thinking may seem pessimistic, but I argue that it is actually the opposite. I don’t put my faith in fate. That’s too passive. When fortuitous things happen, I like to acknowledge just that - the good fortune. Outside of that, I like to make my own fate. If I see a door, a window, a chance, I like to go check it out, and see where it goes. I’m a driver, not a passenger.
