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"Our destiny is not entirely in our own hands"

Our destiny is not entirely in our own hands. Other people can completely change our lives. Nobody can say that our destiny is entirely in our own hands. Sometimes decisions that effect our lives are completely out of our hands.

I have spoken to a few people about this topic and most have disagreed with this statement. While the choices we make mainly determine our destiny, some things that are out of our control can completely change our destiny.

Some of the main points for the argument that destiny is in our own hands is that when we make decision, we are responsible for the result of that decision and the things that follow. One of the main examples of this in life is school subject choices. If you choose hard subjects (PES subjects) you will have more opportunities in life, you might even become a doctor. If you fail to choose these subjects the you will not have the opportunity to do things you would otherwise be able to do.

Another example of this is in the book when Josie rips up the poem John Barton wrote. She said "As soon as I did it I wanted to run outside on to the street and put the pieces back together, but I realised that was impossible.". A decision she made has left her unable to change it later.

However there are also many examples of when our destiny has been taken out of our hands. No teenager I know could say that if their parents got killed, their life and destiny would stay the same.

In the book there are several clear examples of this. When John Barton committed

suicide, Josie's destiny changed. She said "All I could remember was telling him that if we survived the HSC we'd all have dinner together.". Because John died, this couldn't happen. Also when the Sister told Josie "You were voted school captain but I gave the job to Ivy because I knew she'd do a better job.". This was in relation to Josie leaving the walkathon, but Josie replied "I wouldn't have done what I did yesterday if I was school captain,". This shows that if the Sister hadn't interfered, Josie's destiny would have been different.

This is why I believe our destiny