April 16, 2007, my friend wakes up and realizes that he had overslept and missed his first class. Not long after he learned that more than 30 students and faculty had been killed at his school by a student who went on a rampage on his campus. The class that my friend overslept through was in Norris Hall, one of the locations that the student fired shots at on that day at Virginia Tech.
What comes to a person’s mind when they hear this occurrence? Some might say that my friend was lucky to have overslept his class. Is it really luck that kept my friend from attending that day? Personally I would not classify this as luck, but rather fate that kept my friend from attending his class.
Fate is something that I have believed in since I was very little. It is something that my parents have always lived their lives by and passed down to me. The notion that things do not just happen; it’s not “luck” that occurs, but rather, everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences, nor accidents, just fate. My friend was not supposed to wake up and go to his class; there was a reason why he did not walk into that hall that morning.
When I was seven I had a TV fall on my face and endured serious tissue damage. At the time I was very heavily into gymnastics but after the TV incidence I was prohibited from participating in any sports that could cause additional damage to my face. So soon after I began to take Irish Dancing lessons, because honestly the chances of me falling on my face were very small. Shortly after I began, I found that I was a natural at dancing and eventually grew to be one of the best dancers in the nation.
It was the best nine years of my life, traveling all over the world, competing in many different locations and meeting new people every day. But truthfully if that TV had never fallen on my face I would have never began dancing. I honestly believe that it was fate that the TV fell on me; there was a reason why it happened, so that I could be introduced to a great passion of mine.
Fate, is it real? Is it really fate that controls events in our lives? Was it fate that kept my friend from entering Norris Hall? Was it fate that made a TV fall on my face? To me, the answer to those questions is easy. Yes. It is fate. Fate keeps me going on a daily basis, knowing that whatever happens to me happens for a reason. It is with this notion; I find that I can live my life much more peacefully and effectively, trusting that there is a purpose to this world and the events that occur in it.