Are some things in life inevitable? Do some people have the ability to "see"or predict future events. Does destiny exist?
When I was in high school, the end of the summer was always signaled by the County Fair in Plymouth. Labor Day weekend was synonymous with the "Fair". I remember one year, the Fair featured a midway ride called "the Hammer" with a rotating cage swinging like a pendulum at the end of a long metal arm. It would swing in a circle with the people being "upside down" at the top. My buddy John Z. wanted me to go on the ride with him. I watched the ride for a while before answering. It was considered "wild and reckless" at the time. As the ride swung in wide circles, the thick cables that held the Hammer in place would move slightly under the pressure. I would not go on the Hammer. The next day, the Hammer broke loose from the restraining cables and fell over. A buddy of John Z's was killed. The question in my mind was always "did I have a premonition or was I just scared". I will never know. Was it my destiny to avoid being killed in a Hammer accident?
There was a baseball player, Jack "Lucky" Lohrke that just died at age 85. They called him Lucky because he kept surviving "death situations". He survived D-Day while four soldiers around him all died. In 1945 he was going to board a military transport to fly to California for a trip home and he was bumped at the last moment by a high ranking officer. The plane crashed and all were killed. In 1946 he was riding a bus with minor league baseball teammates, the Spokane Indians. Halfway through the trip, Lucky was notified he been promoted to Triple A San Diego. He took his baseball gear, left the bus and proceded to hitchhike home. The bus and his former teammates proceded on and crashed on a rain slicked highway. Nine players were killed. Lucky eventually played major league baseball and lived to age of 85. Was destiny involved?
The lesson Grasshoppers is that you will always have events that make you question whether destiny shapes your future. You will never get an answer? You will be left to ponder? Woooo!
Love,
Dad