Post by DGX on Sept 24, 2007 12:54:23 GMT -5
Fate or Chance?
Throughout all manner of schooling, education, some questions are one’s that can never really be answered. A professor can study for years and years, philosophers can think and not work on the idea for as long as they deem fit, but there are certain questions that have no definitive answer. That is why, years after a question is posited, it can still remain a topic the generations talk about, because theories are not truths.
There is not a man alive that can definitively tell you if your life and the actions and events that take place within it are yours to control. He can tell you what he thinks and why he thinks that, but he can’t say “there is no such thing as fate!!!” or “Doesn’t matter what you do man, fate and karma get you in the end!” because really, he has no way of definitively proving it.
One man is born a hero, his brother a coward, babies starve, politicians grow fat, holy men are martyred and junkies grow legion. Why? Why does it happen this way? Did some all powerful being we all like to call God or Allah or whatever sit in His state of being only He is in and say “yep, here’s this person’s life! Mapped out! No matter where he goes or what he does, that’s his fate to carry out. Because I decree it so!” Or is it really not that deep a meaning and just boil down to one simple and staggeringly devastating concept?
Luck. Blind, stupid, simple, clueless luck.
Maybe it’s all in how you come into the world and situations around it. Oh you’re a genius? Sorry you were born to dirt bag uneducated heathen parents, the world will not likely hear what you think or have to say! A roll of the dice, a flip of a coin, circumstances all conspire to make something what it is! Could that be the way of things? So how does one define a person whose “lucky”? Someone who’s born into a rich family because that means they have the best of everything? Well what if they have a neglectful childhood? Are they still the lucky ones? What about the poor ones with barely a pot to piss in like Charlie in Charlie and Chocolate Factory? Yeah he doesn’t have much but is there a more loving family out there than the Buckets? Are they unlucky because of their position they were put in? Or are they the richer ones?
The moral of the story here people is whether or not you believe in Fate or Chance, the little things in life can make you richer a person. No people understood this more than the denizens of the 50s. That’s why the dad hiked to the coal mines or the factories and did what he did. Not because he wanted to be better than Joe his neighbour, Hell they looked the same! They WERE the same! They did what they did because of the family they had and the things they wanted for that family. They held to a core set of values and would not compromise on that. Because that was their purpose, their job. To live any other way or think to live any other way was just nuts. Unoriginal? You bet. Effective? The 50s speaks for itself in terms of industrial and economic progress man.
In close, we should say that maybe there was a reason for the way people in the 1950s did things. Perhaps it wasn’t Fate OR Chance that they did what they did, they had something a lot of people today do not possess. A clear sense of purpose. It was outlined to you from a young age what you had to do and that it needed to be done. Maybe they had the right idea.
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Dice fly through the air before hitting the wall and coming down to the dirty pavement of the alleyway. Six and four. The young man in blue jeans and ruffled white t-shirt stands up and takes a drag of his smoke, before adjusting the collar on his leather jacket and nodding to the similarly attired man beside him.
Johnny Valentine> Ten. Beat that nerd!
The man beside him snorts and walks over to the dice, picking them up and looking at the wall. He takes the dice in his fist and rests his head on it a moment, before blowing into his hand and flinging the dice errantly at the wall! Five and a three! Johnny Valentine smirks in triumph!
Johnny Valentine> Eight! Pay up fream!
In disgust the other greaser attired man hands Johnny a wad of crumpled bills! He sneers at Johnny a moment and then takes the money back!
Greaser> Double or nothing chump!
Johnny smirks and takes another drag of his cigarette before flicking it down at the feet of the man he’s competing in the game of dice with!
Johnny Valentine> You’re on! Roll Nancy!
The Greaser punk takes the dice and repeats the aforementioned ritual! Johnny snarls at this!
Johnny Valentine> What’s with you and blowing on the dice nerd?
Greaser> It’s my good luck routine, it’s what’s gonna win me my money back from you Clyde!
Johnny Valentine> Just roll little girl!
The Greaser punk glares at Johnny and then chucks the dice at the wall! They hit the wall and then fall to the cement! Double sixes! The Greaser let’s out a whoop of joy! The only way Johnny is keeping the money he’s taken off this guy is if he gets the exact same roll as him, that’s a two in twelve chance. That’s a sixteen percent chance for all you math whizzes out there. Johnny sneers at this and walks over to pick up the dice!
Greaser> Oh why are you even rolling fream?! It’s over! Give me my money!
Johnny puts a toothpick in his mouth and smiles at the Greaser.
Johnny Valentine> It’s not over till it’s over punk!
Johnny throws the dice non chalantly at the wall. They hit and fall. Snake eyes. The Greaser smirks and walks over to Johnny, his hand out! He looks to Roxy, who has been lounging against Johnny’s corvette chewing her gum and watching the proceedings with minimal and forced interest.
Greaser> Hey Rox, can I buy you a milkshake?
With his hand out, and his attention on Roxy, the poor sap has no time to react at all before Johnny’s fist clobbers him in the face! As his hands fly up to his face where he was struck, Johnny takes hold of him and throws him head first into the brick wall! He comes in with a boot to the kidney’s and one last stiff punch to the back of the head for good measure putting the Greaser punk to the pavement on his face, out cold!
Johnny Valentine> Like I said fream, it’s not over till it’s over.
Johnny throws his toothpick from his mouth at the guy’s downed form as Roxy leans over to look at the damage with a smile on her face!
Roxy> Yeah!
Johnny pauses a moment and fixes his collar on his jacket, before pulling out another cigarette and lighting up as he takes his first few drags he again regards the downed form of the Greaser he just beat up, and raises his right hand with the money contained therein.
Johnny Valentine> And now it’s over. I win. Come on babe, let’s get outta here and get that shake!
Roxy> Yeah! You were radioactive baby! You totally creamed him!
Johnny puts his arm around Roxy and walks towards the corvette taking drags of his cigarette while she goes on and on about how amazing it was what he just did. The moral of the story here? Sometimes even with luck and Chance and Fate or what have you on your side, there are some circumstances where you just can’t win.
Throughout all manner of schooling, education, some questions are one’s that can never really be answered. A professor can study for years and years, philosophers can think and not work on the idea for as long as they deem fit, but there are certain questions that have no definitive answer. That is why, years after a question is posited, it can still remain a topic the generations talk about, because theories are not truths.
There is not a man alive that can definitively tell you if your life and the actions and events that take place within it are yours to control. He can tell you what he thinks and why he thinks that, but he can’t say “there is no such thing as fate!!!” or “Doesn’t matter what you do man, fate and karma get you in the end!” because really, he has no way of definitively proving it.
One man is born a hero, his brother a coward, babies starve, politicians grow fat, holy men are martyred and junkies grow legion. Why? Why does it happen this way? Did some all powerful being we all like to call God or Allah or whatever sit in His state of being only He is in and say “yep, here’s this person’s life! Mapped out! No matter where he goes or what he does, that’s his fate to carry out. Because I decree it so!” Or is it really not that deep a meaning and just boil down to one simple and staggeringly devastating concept?
Luck. Blind, stupid, simple, clueless luck.
Maybe it’s all in how you come into the world and situations around it. Oh you’re a genius? Sorry you were born to dirt bag uneducated heathen parents, the world will not likely hear what you think or have to say! A roll of the dice, a flip of a coin, circumstances all conspire to make something what it is! Could that be the way of things? So how does one define a person whose “lucky”? Someone who’s born into a rich family because that means they have the best of everything? Well what if they have a neglectful childhood? Are they still the lucky ones? What about the poor ones with barely a pot to piss in like Charlie in Charlie and Chocolate Factory? Yeah he doesn’t have much but is there a more loving family out there than the Buckets? Are they unlucky because of their position they were put in? Or are they the richer ones?
The moral of the story here people is whether or not you believe in Fate or Chance, the little things in life can make you richer a person. No people understood this more than the denizens of the 50s. That’s why the dad hiked to the coal mines or the factories and did what he did. Not because he wanted to be better than Joe his neighbour, Hell they looked the same! They WERE the same! They did what they did because of the family they had and the things they wanted for that family. They held to a core set of values and would not compromise on that. Because that was their purpose, their job. To live any other way or think to live any other way was just nuts. Unoriginal? You bet. Effective? The 50s speaks for itself in terms of industrial and economic progress man.
In close, we should say that maybe there was a reason for the way people in the 1950s did things. Perhaps it wasn’t Fate OR Chance that they did what they did, they had something a lot of people today do not possess. A clear sense of purpose. It was outlined to you from a young age what you had to do and that it needed to be done. Maybe they had the right idea.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dice fly through the air before hitting the wall and coming down to the dirty pavement of the alleyway. Six and four. The young man in blue jeans and ruffled white t-shirt stands up and takes a drag of his smoke, before adjusting the collar on his leather jacket and nodding to the similarly attired man beside him.
Johnny Valentine> Ten. Beat that nerd!
The man beside him snorts and walks over to the dice, picking them up and looking at the wall. He takes the dice in his fist and rests his head on it a moment, before blowing into his hand and flinging the dice errantly at the wall! Five and a three! Johnny Valentine smirks in triumph!
Johnny Valentine> Eight! Pay up fream!
In disgust the other greaser attired man hands Johnny a wad of crumpled bills! He sneers at Johnny a moment and then takes the money back!
Greaser> Double or nothing chump!
Johnny smirks and takes another drag of his cigarette before flicking it down at the feet of the man he’s competing in the game of dice with!
Johnny Valentine> You’re on! Roll Nancy!
The Greaser punk takes the dice and repeats the aforementioned ritual! Johnny snarls at this!
Johnny Valentine> What’s with you and blowing on the dice nerd?
Greaser> It’s my good luck routine, it’s what’s gonna win me my money back from you Clyde!
Johnny Valentine> Just roll little girl!
The Greaser punk glares at Johnny and then chucks the dice at the wall! They hit the wall and then fall to the cement! Double sixes! The Greaser let’s out a whoop of joy! The only way Johnny is keeping the money he’s taken off this guy is if he gets the exact same roll as him, that’s a two in twelve chance. That’s a sixteen percent chance for all you math whizzes out there. Johnny sneers at this and walks over to pick up the dice!
Greaser> Oh why are you even rolling fream?! It’s over! Give me my money!
Johnny puts a toothpick in his mouth and smiles at the Greaser.
Johnny Valentine> It’s not over till it’s over punk!
Johnny throws the dice non chalantly at the wall. They hit and fall. Snake eyes. The Greaser smirks and walks over to Johnny, his hand out! He looks to Roxy, who has been lounging against Johnny’s corvette chewing her gum and watching the proceedings with minimal and forced interest.
Greaser> Hey Rox, can I buy you a milkshake?
With his hand out, and his attention on Roxy, the poor sap has no time to react at all before Johnny’s fist clobbers him in the face! As his hands fly up to his face where he was struck, Johnny takes hold of him and throws him head first into the brick wall! He comes in with a boot to the kidney’s and one last stiff punch to the back of the head for good measure putting the Greaser punk to the pavement on his face, out cold!
Johnny Valentine> Like I said fream, it’s not over till it’s over.
Johnny throws his toothpick from his mouth at the guy’s downed form as Roxy leans over to look at the damage with a smile on her face!
Roxy> Yeah!
Johnny pauses a moment and fixes his collar on his jacket, before pulling out another cigarette and lighting up as he takes his first few drags he again regards the downed form of the Greaser he just beat up, and raises his right hand with the money contained therein.
Johnny Valentine> And now it’s over. I win. Come on babe, let’s get outta here and get that shake!
Roxy> Yeah! You were radioactive baby! You totally creamed him!
Johnny puts his arm around Roxy and walks towards the corvette taking drags of his cigarette while she goes on and on about how amazing it was what he just did. The moral of the story here? Sometimes even with luck and Chance and Fate or what have you on your side, there are some circumstances where you just can’t win.
But I did catch this around the time you posted it. So sorry for the late feedback, but any is better than none, right?