No Fate But What We Make

And yeah, that’s a dorky title. (And @Scopique, I’ll beat you within an inch of your life if you don’t know what that’s from. Promise.)

Although it’s pretty to think that we do have control over whatever we might consider to be our manifest destiny, sometimes life really does have an interesting habit of kicking you in the ass. Or, conversely, sometimes it can pass you by.

Case in point – Flight 19. My grandfather joined the Navy when he was 16 (World War II era) and became a gunner on planes just like the ones there in the picture. In fact, he was scheduled to be out on Flight 19, and was actually sitting in the cockpit ready to take off when one of his flightmates asked if he could take his place. Turns out the guy needed more training time that week and my grandfather already had his quota in. So he got out of the plane, erased his name from the log and the rest, as they say, is history.

But I have to wonder – was it fate? Chance? An extraordinary coincidence? And does it matter? After all, not all brushes with history are fortuitous. And just think – five minutes sooner to take off and I wouldn’t be writing this.

No fate but what we make of it, I suppose.