This is one of my favorite topics to think about. I am a believer that we create our own destiny and that for the most part a person can do or become anything he or she chooses if he works hard enough for it. There are many things I have accomplished in my life that I credit to making a plan and following the plan whether it be completing a marathon or completing my master’s degree, I have always believed that I accomplished these things because of my free will and not because I was fated to. I wasn’t smarter than the person next to me. I’m not a natural athlete. I simply worked hard. At least, that’s what I believe.
Last night I happened across a news article that claims differently. Moni Basu on CNN reports in her article, “Black German Woman Learns a Shocking Family Secret: Her Grandfather was a Nazi.” In this article the reader is introduced to Jennifer Teege. She was abandoned at a Convent as an infant, grew up as the only black child in her neighborhood, then spent time studying in Tel Aviv” She accidently discovered her grandfather was the notorious Nazi depicted in the movie, Schindler’s List. She believes it was her fate too have lived in Israel, to accidently discover this book, and then to become an author and speaker about the psychological effects of the Holocaust on succeeding generations. She doesn’t give the events any of the free-will credit that I give to my life.
Thinking about this idea of fate versus free will, do you believe that you are destined to become or do certain things? Do believe that you can do or become anything you wish? What limitations do you place on these ideas? Can you only accomplish certain things and the rest is up to fate? Or is everything up to fate? On what do you base these ideas?
Basu, Moni. “Black German woman learns a shocking family secret: Her grandfather was a Nazi” CNN Jan. 29, 2016 onlinehttp://www.cnn.com/2016/01/29/world/my-grandfather-would-have-shot-me/index.html