7 & 7: Choice vs. Chance

Reflection:

Who to blame and who to credit for our successes and our failures? What is the face of fate; is it friendly or is it cruel? That there are obstacles, limits, barriers for each of us along the way is undeniable. They take many forms. Too many resources can as easily short-circuit growth as can too little. But destiny is determined by the choices, by what we make of our circumstances. There are parts of our lives that clearly escape any personal control, to whom we were born to name but one. But they are balanced more than equally by choices of free will. We choose, we work, we acquire both the good and the bad, we take these choices and analyze the results in the hope that the knowledge gained will result in better choices the next time around. This is how we learn to master chance. Our minds become prepared by choosing and embracing new paths. And if wrong, there’s another fork up a little way around the curve and out of sight making it impossible to predict or plan. Make your choices, live with them, learn from them.

Muses:

Whatever limits us we call Fate. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, but a thing to be achieved.William Jennings Bryan

Chance makes our parents, but choice makes our friends. Jacques Delille

Work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chance favors the prepared mind. Louis Pasteur

Two roads diverged in a wood and I
I took the one less traveled by-
And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost