命運在誰手？

That age-old question hit me one day on my way to work: Do we have free will or are we just puppets in a 1)Punch and Judy show?

It’s such a fundamental question about our lives that countless people ask on a daily basis and yet it is probably one of the things we’ll never know in our 2)corporeal forms. I， for one， often wake up 3)bruised and scarred from the events of the day before. Seldom do I wake up fresh with 4)zeal and looking forward to the day ahead. But does that mean that my fate should leave me scarred and always in a state of disrepair? Is my fate so 5)mundane that all it involves is the daily 6)slog and nothing more? No enjoyment， no fulfillment， and no satisfaction with my actions? Since the fate is 7)sealed， is there nothing more for me to do apart from just going with the flow?

As a matter of fact， what 8)Winston Churchill once said really impresses me: 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. Our destiny is basically our destination for our life…it’s the place where we intend to arrive after we put away the road map (9)figuratively speaking) or turn off the internal navigation 10)GPS， once we finish driving.

I recalled a conversation I had not too long ago with a former business acquaintance whom I relied on occasionally for my own 11)accountability. Each time we’d speak to one another he kept telling me about what he was “going to do” and what he had been “thinking about doing.” However， he rarely could give 12)updates on what he actually had done. When I questioned him about what had been holding him back， his explanation was always the same. He seemed to believe that the reason he hadn’t achieved the majority of his business and personal goals was because it just wasn’t his destiny. It seemed as though he actually convinced himself that some things simply weren’t “13)in the cards” for him when things did not go well. I couldn’t help but wonder why he really believed that he was less worthy， capable， deserving or destined for success than others? In his eyes， “Life is a circle. So be patient and wait…don’t waste your energy trying to make the inevitable happen…because it will happen anyway. There is no escape from it.”

This would also mean that there is little that can be done about the future except let it happen. It’s not the most productive way to live life. In my experience， this kind of thinking leads to an innate laziness and a tendency to 14)procrastinate heavily. Although the future is15)shrouded in darkness， mystery and 16)suspense， or even though we all have goals and ambitions and think we are following the path of success， what we fail to realize is that the path to success is not one that has been laid before us， but rather， it is the one we create as we move along. Fate is a force we cannot control， however we can always determine what we choose to be in this moment. I choose how to perceive where I am right now and what to do with what has been 17)bestowed on me. I can choose consciously what decisions to make and do what I feel is right for me. When faced with something， I can choose to deal with it as a challenge and to make the most of it， or to do it half-heartedly.

Our fate is not by chance; on the contrary it is the result of our intentions and our deliberate actions that 18)follow suit. Destiny doesn’t come by falling out of the sky; you’ve got to think it， believe it， commit to it， do it， be passionate about it and achieve it. To be productive is never a quick 19)coast down a hill. It’s more like you’re making the effort to walk up the stairs. And you have your fate in your hands.

某天，上班的途中，一個老掉牙的問題忽然從我腦海里冒出來:我們是否擁有自由意志，還是說，我們只是木偶戲里那些被人控制的木偶。

這實在是我們人生的一個根本問題，無數人天天都在問，然而答案卻很可能是我們這肉身永遠無從知道的事情之一。拿我來舉例，一覺醒來，我常常發現自己還在因前一天的事而傷痕累累。我醒來后很少會感覺煥然一新，滿懷熱情，期待著眼前這新的一天。但那是否意味著我的命運就是注定要我傷痕累累，并總是處于無可救藥的狀態?是否意味著我的命運就是那么平淡乏味，每天就是艱難行進，沒有別的任何東西?所做一切不會帶來享受快樂，沒有成就感，也沒有滿足感可言?還是說，既然命運已注定一切，所以除了順其自然，我再沒別的可做?

事實上，溫斯頓·丘吉爾曾說過的一些話讓我印象深刻:命運不是碰運氣，而是一種選擇，命運不是要我們等待的東西，而是要我們去實現的東西。我們的命運本質上就是我們人生旅途的目的地……是我們把地圖(比喻的說法)放到一邊或者關掉汽車內置的GPS導航器之后，一旦行程結束，我們要到達的那個地方。

我想起不久前和一位工作舊交的一番對話，我的職責有時需要這位舊交來幫忙完成。每次我們交談起來，他總是告訴我他“正準備做什么”和“他一直在考慮做什么”，然而，他很少告訴我實際上他已經做了什么。當我問他受了什么牽制的時候，他總是給出同一個解釋。