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Changing the World
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.
Putting religion aside, if possible, do you sincerely believe in destiny?
For many the belief in destiny relates directly to their religious beliefs (or lack of), but some, while keeping in mind the obligations and details of their faith, opt not to believe that all of our actions and occurences are pre-determined and inevitable.
The whole concept of destiny, fate and the 'meant-to-be' has roots in different cultures as well as religion. Destiny is the irresistible power or agency that is conceived of as determining the future, whether in general or of an individual. Greek mythology described destiny and fortune as neither good nor bad, but that it is simply in due proportion to each according to his deserts. Sounds fair - you get what you deserve.
But there's got to be more than that. I don't believe that patterns of actions that lead to a certain event are the result of chance, coincidence or luck. The world has too much order and not enough serendipity for that to occure. I think our paths, and all the little occurences within, are planned out for us for the better good, as long as we choose to take that path. Choose the immoral and wrong path, then you end up getting your just desserts, like the Greeks sorta said.
You may not know it at the time, but meeting random people on the street or just a mundane experience may have all been for a specific purpose. That's not to say that every trip to the grocery store or the bank will eventually lead to some momentous experience.
Making choices and believing in destiny is a little contradictory, now that I think about it. But we do have free will to make decisions, and we face the consequences of our decisions. It could just be that when it comes to decision-making involving morality, we're on our own; when it involves more life-altering happenings, there's a Divine interception.
The decisions we make also effect our destiny. In 1985 my parents and I had planned to go to India to visit family there. Our original flight was planned for June 23rd, but two weeks before that date my mom suddenly found out that she was able to get an extra week off of work, so we changed our flight to leave exactly a week earlier on June 16th. I don't believe this was a chance happening - God definitely made this happen.
On June 23rd 1985, Flight 182 from Montreal (where we supposed to fly to from Toronto) to London, Delhi then finally Bombay, exploded off the coast of Ireland and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all passengers and crew on board. The explosion was caused by a bomb placed in checked baggage was the single largest terrorist attack before those of Sept. 11th, and the largest mass murder in Canadian history. This infamous case has gone on 20 years and was finally closed this past February.
My mom and I were going to travel alone on the flight, my dad was going to join us a few days later. I don't know who is more provoked by that thought, him or us, that we would've been on that flight. But I guess I can say that our own destiny was to live longer, and that we just weren't meant to be on that flight in the end of it all.
More recently, I went to a baby shower for a friend and ended up giving a ride home to the mommy-to-be's cousin. Now being a shy person by nature, I was racking my brain to figure out what to say this stranger on the somewhat long ride home, and wondering to myself how long I could carry on small talk. It ended up being a really inspiring conversation, because she was really open and talkative and told me a lot about herself that I was able to reflect on for myself. I actually made a few decisions about my life based on that conversation.
And here I thought that all I'd get out of the evening was a couple laughs with friends, and some food! I wasn't even supposed to have my car that day because my brother was going to take it to school and I wouldn't have been able to go to the party after I got off work.
So what exactly do we have control over? I have no freakin clue. I would like to at least think I have control over the mindless and meaningless actions of each day, but when you look at the big picture, I don’t. No one does. You may think and believe you’re on your way to work, but an accident, bad storm, chance meeting, literally anything can change all of that in an instant because it just wasn’t meant for you that day.
But in the end, it's how we get to our end that makes all the difference.
Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. - William Jennings Bryan
For many the belief in destiny relates directly to their religious beliefs (or lack of), but some, while keeping in mind the obligations and details of their faith, opt not to believe that all of our actions and occurences are pre-determined and inevitable.
The whole concept of destiny, fate and the 'meant-to-be' has roots in different cultures as well as religion. Destiny is the irresistible power or agency that is conceived of as determining the future, whether in general or of an individual. Greek mythology described destiny and fortune as neither good nor bad, but that it is simply in due proportion to each according to his deserts. Sounds fair - you get what you deserve.
But there's got to be more than that. I don't believe that patterns of actions that lead to a certain event are the result of chance, coincidence or luck. The world has too much order and not enough serendipity for that to occure. I think our paths, and all the little occurences within, are planned out for us for the better good, as long as we choose to take that path. Choose the immoral and wrong path, then you end up getting your just desserts, like the Greeks sorta said.
You may not know it at the time, but meeting random people on the street or just a mundane experience may have all been for a specific purpose. That's not to say that every trip to the grocery store or the bank will eventually lead to some momentous experience.
Making choices and believing in destiny is a little contradictory, now that I think about it. But we do have free will to make decisions, and we face the consequences of our decisions. It could just be that when it comes to decision-making involving morality, we're on our own; when it involves more life-altering happenings, there's a Divine interception.
The decisions we make also effect our destiny. In 1985 my parents and I had planned to go to India to visit family there. Our original flight was planned for June 23rd, but two weeks before that date my mom suddenly found out that she was able to get an extra week off of work, so we changed our flight to leave exactly a week earlier on June 16th. I don't believe this was a chance happening - God definitely made this happen.
On June 23rd 1985, Flight 182 from Montreal (where we supposed to fly to from Toronto) to London, Delhi then finally Bombay, exploded off the coast of Ireland and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all passengers and crew on board. The explosion was caused by a bomb placed in checked baggage was the single largest terrorist attack before those of Sept. 11th, and the largest mass murder in Canadian history. This infamous case has gone on 20 years and was finally closed this past February.
My mom and I were going to travel alone on the flight, my dad was going to join us a few days later. I don't know who is more provoked by that thought, him or us, that we would've been on that flight. But I guess I can say that our own destiny was to live longer, and that we just weren't meant to be on that flight in the end of it all.
More recently, I went to a baby shower for a friend and ended up giving a ride home to the mommy-to-be's cousin. Now being a shy person by nature, I was racking my brain to figure out what to say this stranger on the somewhat long ride home, and wondering to myself how long I could carry on small talk. It ended up being a really inspiring conversation, because she was really open and talkative and told me a lot about herself that I was able to reflect on for myself. I actually made a few decisions about my life based on that conversation.
And here I thought that all I'd get out of the evening was a couple laughs with friends, and some food! I wasn't even supposed to have my car that day because my brother was going to take it to school and I wouldn't have been able to go to the party after I got off work.
So what exactly do we have control over? I have no freakin clue. I would like to at least think I have control over the mindless and meaningless actions of each day, but when you look at the big picture, I don’t. No one does. You may think and believe you’re on your way to work, but an accident, bad storm, chance meeting, literally anything can change all of that in an instant because it just wasn’t meant for you that day.
But in the end, it's how we get to our end that makes all the difference.
Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. - William Jennings Bryan
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OK is this true: In a criminal matter a wife cannot be compelled to testify against her husband.
I'm sure it might be somewhere in my textbook, but sounds like a lot work...you hear on TV a lot BUT on the Simpsons I remember Marge testifying against Homer..or was it Bart I forget.
see I'm so Confused..Law is like sooo hard, you have to like remember stuff when you're all like whatever...who said that?
Or is it only tranferrable to your spouse???
From my understanding, anyone who has been a witness, possible accomplice, or just plainly knows the criminal can be made to testify because they may hold some information about a case; I don't think specifically there's a law that forces the spouse to testify. But then again, each province/state has their own laws, and Springfield is in a class of its own, so who knows.
Your assets can be transferred to anyone's name BUT if you're married then your wife/husband would likely have to sign some sort of consent if it's to do with something they both use, like a home that the husband/wife both occupy or a bank account.