Writer's Block: It Is What It Is

[swordandmug]

"It wasn't meant to be."

I oppose the theory of predestination.  I tend to agree with Machiavelli -- "A man creates his fortune."  When things do not work out, I find it more productive and soothing to admit my faults in whatever event.  If I am too emotionally fragile at the time, I then have to buck up and be stronger.  THAT is my fortune, created

Comments

[maple_rose]

I agree on the whole "you create your own future" thing, and sometimes saying that just makes you sound lazy and don't want to take responsibility. But sometimes people do say "it's not meant to be" to comfort themselves in things they can't help, or at least feel less helpless. For example, with death of someone close, it's something you couldn't prevent or help. Or maybe a person you really love doesn't love you back anymore. Yeah maybe you've done something to cause that, but sometimes the feeling is just not right or not there anymore, and the only thing you can say is "it's not meant to be" =\

[swordandmug]

You may be surprised because of my Machievelli reference, but those circumstances you referred to are what have forced me to look at things this way. That question of "why did this happen to me?" has raged in my mind too many times, and the pat answer given to me for why relationships would end or death occurred were "it just wasn't meant to be." That answer means that I am at the mercy of forces beyond my control regardless of my decisions, which offered no solace but instead made me feel worse about my various predicaments. I do not like the confines of that perspective. I saw that passage in "The Prince" about a man and his fortune, and I realized that the responsibility lay with me, that dealing with the grief of the situation was simpler and managable when dissecting it into its component parts

[swordandmug]

Um... that one was always supposed to convey the message of to the self-blinded religious nut waiting for prayers to be filled with "Stop making wishes for God to fill. Do it yourself. You were created self sufficient -- go fulfill the promise of our design." That would be the same as "Fortune helps those who make their own fortune." Yes, there is the theological idea that the Creator is glorified in the prowess and success of his creations, but the main thought is addressed to praying and making claims of that salvation will come from on high when the need is to get to work doing what needs to be done.

[jorund_thorfinn]

A better quote, that more or less fits in line with the OP's (for myself, at least) has always been "The Gods will not do what you can do for yourself."