Are you there, Fate? It's me, Rayna.

For those of you who do not own a calendar, yesterday was Valentine's Day. I walked into school happily, even though I am currently single. I had just finished convincing myself that I didn't need to have a boyfriend to make Valentine's Day fun and that I was going to have a fun day with my friends (the vast majority of whom are also single). I dropped my coat off at my desk and went to talk to a friend in another room. As I approached I heard a ramped waterfall of complaining. It was a girl a year older than myself talking about how Valentine's Day is overly corporate and about how it is just a day to make single people feel bad about themselves and to put pressure on people in relationships.  

This was the first of many heated discussions that took place yesterday in my school. 

My personal favorite conversation that I had was with two of my guy-friends who are both single. It wasn't about love, but started out as a conversation about whether or not everyone has a soulmate. This conversation then turned into a discussion on the existence of Fate vs. Free Will. One of the two guys believed whole-heartedly in Free Will and thought that the idea of a large man on a cloud determining our every move seemed silly and ridiculous. The other thought that God has a plan for all of us. 

I, however, had my own personal view. I think that we have Free Will over our actions, but that said actions are more important than we give them credit for. For example, let's say that you took track in high school. You loved it, so you continued running as an adult. One day, your shoes break after you go running in the rain. You go to get new ones and pick out a snazzy pair of blue Nikes. A passer-by sees them and wants them because he loves blue. He then goes home, sits around, and decides to go out for a jog. He feels alive and chooses to sign up for a marathon in town that weekend. While running, however, he steps in a pothole and twists his ankle. When he is taken to the hospital, he meets a nurse. He and the nurse fall in love. They get married and have a daughter. That daughter grows up to become the person to discover the cure for cancer.

BAM! You could easily go around thinking to yourself "I just cured cancer! Well, not single-handedly of course, but I contributed!" but you have to keep in mind all of the factors. What if the baby had been a boy? What if the girl's first science teacher had been a jerk so she didn't like science enough to take it up as a profession? What if the nurse and the runner had broken up?

Thinking about all of the variables in our lives makes me grateful for my life. If my family had moved to Hawaii, how would my life be different? Would I still be the same person? Would I still even be alive? 

This is why today, and in the future, I want you to think about the ripples the pebbles of your actions are causing in the deep ocean that is existence. Driving drunk? Negative ripples. Donating to charity? Positive ripples. 

Which are yours?

Louisa, I loved your last post and I can't wait to read your next. 

Happy Valentine's Day, gorgeous! 

-Rayna