EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON I'm tired of hearing people say, "Everything happens for a reason." Duh! Of course everything happens for a reason. Hurricanes are created by rising moist air and wind systems. Most car accidents are caused by people not paying attention. Ants reproduce because they are genetically programmed to do so. Kennedy was assassinated by a person who didn't like him. The word "assassinate" has two asses in it because it came from the French. Nothing happens that doesn't have a reason, so why do people state the obvious? A good friend of mine decided to change jobs and move to North Carolina. At the same time he made this decision, a woman who is from North Carolina contacted him via an on-line match service. He had not advertised the fact that he was moving, so his only explanation for it was that "Everything happens for a reason." I suspect the reason was that he had a profile on the site, that it was an unusual profile, and apparently this woman thought he was perfect for her so she contacted him. People seem to use this expression as an explanation for what happens to them when they can come up with no other reason. Some like to say it as a way of believing that there was a mysterious good reason behind what happens to them, and/or to absolve themselves of any responsibility. Others attribute unexplainable events that happen in their lives to the direction of a higher entity. Basically it is saying, "I'm innocent," or "I had nothing to do with it." If you get fired, get cancer, get shot in the ass, or win the lottery, there are always reasons for it. You may not know what those reasons are, and you may not have control over some of the things that happen to you, but that is hardly reason to throw your hands up and state the obvious. I would prefer to hear "Dang," "C'est la vie," "Great" or something a bit more expressive. I wrote this because I had a reason. If you are reading it, your reason is probably because you are wasting time surfing the Internet and made a series of decisions that led you to this page. God didn't make you do it – although I would be flattered if he did. |