Sometimes People Are Unable to Control the Directions Their Lives Take.

Sometimes people are unable to control the direction their lives take. This can be a hard concept to grasp, but one needs to understand that one cannot control every single detail or event in one’s life, and also cannot possibly predict what will happen in the future. Obstacles of every kind will strike, whether these trials come in the form of day to day hardships, catastrophic natural disasters, or even the fate of the gods. The only thing one can really do is adapt to the new situation and try to move forward. Making decisions can be extremely difficult but one of the worst feelings a person can have is having a decision made for you. Although one may consider these changes in direction to be trivial, in truth they may actually have the power to alter the path of one’s life. Like many Grade Twelve's, I put my fate into the hands of the Admissions Office of each prospective University. I had done everything I could in the beginning of the year to get respectable grades and be accepted into all the schools I wanted, just so I had every possible option available to me. It started off well, with my early acceptance to Queens University and University of Alberta but then came McGill University. It had been one of my top choices, and I was tremendously disappointed. Although I have now accepted that I have no chance of attending McGill this upcoming Fall, it was still painful to think that an entire future, a whole different person that I could have become, died away with that one rejection letter. In time, I realized there was nothing left to do but to go check out the other universities. Fortunately, I fell in love with the Queens University campus just two weeks ago after visiting it for the first time. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, â€Å"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Though I may not be able to control the unexpected twists in my life, at least I know that I will always be able to face any upcoming challenges with a strength and determination that I will always be able to control. Additionally, people always find themselves unable to control the direction their lives take when natural disasters strike. This unfortunate destruction can come in the form of a tsunami in Asia, Hurricane Katrina or most recently, the earthquake in Haiti. Considered one of the worst natural disasters in recent history, the quake caused immense damage to structures f all kinds, and wreaked havoc upon millions of lives. These poor people had no real way of knowing a disaster that immense would strike, and ultimately were powerless to stop its terrifying force. Unfortunately, the citizens of Haiti had to experience a complete change to their lifestyle, and were forced to deal with a massive obstacle that the rest of the world could barely comprehend. All that these victims could do was accept that they had no control over what happened, and then attempt to pick up the pieces of their lives amidst the chaos that surrounded them. Truly, human beings are left powerless to control the detrimental effects that Mother Nature has on their lives when a natural disaster hits. Furthermore, no matter how many obstacles or how impossible they may seem, even if against the will of the gods, one must still try to move forward. In Homer’s timeless epic, The Odyssey, the protagonist Odysseus is faced with countless trials and tribulations that he must endure before he may finally return home. After the great battle of Troy, Odysseus attempts to return to his love, Penelope and son, Telemachus. Unfortunately his homecoming is delayed an endless 10 years because of the reckless actions and behaviours of himself and his crew which have angered the Greek gods. Consequently, the gods provide them with a series of dangerous obstacles presenting tragedy, death, and destruction to the mortals. He has no choice but to meet every challenge without question if he is to ever see his home again. In the end, it is not his triumphs at Troy but his persistence and ability to never give up on his voyage home that makes Odysseus so infamous. Many times people find themselves unable to control the direction their lives take. While this can be unbelievably frustrating, one needs to keep in perspective that one cannot control every single detail of his or her life, and moreover one cannot predict what may or may not happen in the future. When something that is out of one’s control alters one’s set course, all that person can do is work through the hardship and attempt to find some solid ground once more. It is inevitable that life will take some nasty turns over the years, but one must accept that once the unexpected hits, the only thing that one can do is adapt to the situation and carry on.