A fishmonger had a sign at their corner stall: “Smart Fish $100 a kilo”.
A young naïve man inquired about the smart fish from the fishmonger who excitedly told him, “If you eat this smart fish you are destined to become very smart!”
The young fool paid his $100.
The next day he returns to the fishmonger’s stand complaining, “I ate that whole kilo of smart fish and I don’t feel any smarter.”
The fishmonger explained, “It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen!
You’re destined to become very smart if you keep eating this fish!”
So the man keeps forking out $100. After two weeks the young man approaches the fishmonger in a rage, “I just saw another fishmonger on another corner selling exactly the same ‘smart fish’ for only $5 a kilo!”
The fishmonger smiles and says, “See! You’re getting smarter already!”
Is there such a thing as destiny? Or fate? What’s the difference?
It’s said that fate is that which you cannot change and destiny is that which you can and should change.
Is there such a thing as fate? I don’t know. I prefer the concept of providence.
Even so, neither word does justice to, or explains the horrible things that happen every day.
Think of the recent death of Sam Ballard who when 19 swallowed a garden slug eight years ago for a dare which resulted in a 420 day coma and spending the rest of his life paralysed.
Or the story of 12-year-old Harriet Davis who only weeks ago had her hand severed as she was innocently water-tubing on the Nepean River.
Harriet has already become an inspiration in the way she has conducted herself in the aftermath of her accident and she seems almost destined to become a shining example of resilience in the future for others depressed by misfortune.
These events certainly challenge our concept of providence.
But destiny, does destiny really exist? Without a doubt.
Let’s start with the morbid and obvious example, your death.
You can’t avoid it. I guess that’s fate. But can you delay death and live a life so good that it makes you want to delay it? Yes.
So destiny is a choice, right? I’m not convinced… well, not completely. I once heard it said, “we often discover our destiny on the very path we took to avoid it.”
I liked the sound of that line so much I committed it to memory, but only because it sounded really deep and esoteric. It never meant much to me. Until it came true.
As a teenager studying accounting and law at university in Sydney I admit I almost always found my subjects boring – a small price to pay I figured.
But as time passed I found myself challenged by the potential greed and dishonesty I felt I was destined to face in the future corporate world.
A fellow student once gave a tutorial in which they explained it was at times alright to deceive clients in presenting the value of stocks and profits and the like.
I disagreed profusely only to find the class, and even our tutor utterly amused at my naivety.
I was particularly scandalised because I thought we accountants and lawyers presented the boring truth.
It wasn’t the pivotal moment, but it helped me make the decision to become a priest and to live out in the country so I could live among the innocent folk and not have to deal with evil things and unscrupulous people.
After a period of time in the priesthood I discovered my destiny - to learn about tragedy and even evil, to discover them in the very places I least expected to find them, and to be put into a position to do something about it.
Depending on how we cooperate with God, destiny is conditional as to how it plays out in one's life.
After a period of time in the priesthood I discovered my destiny - to learn about tragedy and even evil, to discover them in the very places I least expected to find them, and to be put into a position to do something about it.
Sometimes we take a pathway to avoid a possible outcome, but end up only to once again find that it is destined to be.
Perhaps we really do discover our destiny on the very path we took to avoid it.
