Of cowardice nature?

It's been awhile since I last wrote.. (Well, if you consider my declaration as a Jedi Master proper writing, that is..) I've been swamped with absolutely trivial and frivolous things to do, so haven't had the time, really.. Actually, to be fair, I did have an important project report due in last Friday, and being deemed of having 'nerves of steel' by my mother as a kid, my recent qualification as professional procrastinator and the age-old "I won't do anything til' the very last minute" saying, naturally, I only started to work on it last week. So, yeah, that'll probably be main reason I was MIA.

WS came over this weekend.. (Yes, yes, yet another reason I was MIA.. hey, we haven't seen each other for 4 whole weeks so you can guess what we were busy with.. :P ) Anyway, we went to watch the long-awaited, highly-anticipated Star Wars Episode III and being the great Star Wars fan that I was, I couldn't stop talking about it the whole weekend! Overall, it was a good movie (much better than Episodes I and II but nowhere compared to IV, V and VI, of course!) and even though I felt sad all throughout, I felt it was worth my while.. So do go and catch it if you have the time!

Anyway, watching the movie got me thinking.. (Yes, we've established a long time ago that thinking is a pastime I don't usually enjoy.. Let it go!) Anakin Skywalker was prophesied to be the 'chosen one', the one to bring balance to the Force by ridding the world of evil. But, instead of sitting around and waiting for his destiny to be fulfilled, he decided to take matters into his own hands and ended up turning to the dark side. This proved quite good for him, to be honest, as he became the most powerful Jedi/Sith lord in the galaxy for many many years.. The same thing happened to Lex Luthor in Smallville - he had his future mapped out for him by his father but decided that he wanted more and therefore, always challenged destiny. It too did him well, he will always be known as Superman's arch nemesis, his most formidable enemy.

There is a point to this, I promise. Basically, through my extremely strong powers of observation (hah!), I have realised that the greatest of people are always those who dare challenge their own destiny. The greatest of people are the ones who are always willing to take a chance and grab hold of their own futures, instead of sitting on their hefty asses and waiting for it to drop into their chunky laps. (Btw, don't mean to offend you skinny people out there!) The greatest of people are the ones who take matters into their own hands and spell out their very own futures. The greatest of people are the ones who do not leave it up to Lady Fate.

My religion teaches me this. It teaches me that nothing is fixed, our destinies are not set in stone, everything is conditional and we have the power to alter our own fate. This is probably a concept alien to basic Chinese culture, which believes strongly that our endpoint has already been set and it's just the journey that's different. Obviously, I don't agree with this, but I still enjoy watching lots of sappy Cantonese series which epitomises this with their tragic love stories. (Think the Hong Kong pilot/airplane show.. I know the title of it in Chinese but forgot it in English! hehe..)

I digress. My point is, it has become clearer and clearer to me (No, not through Star Wars or the movies.. :P) that we control our very own fate. Yes, it may seem obvious to you and you're probably thinking that this article is quite pointless. Yes, it does seem simply apparent and straightforward but think again, and think hard. A lot of us take the things that happen in our lives for granted and therefore, are inadvertently leaving things up to fate. It is obviously the most convenient option, saying things like "It's not meant to be," or a more familiar "I can't help it, it was beyond my control."

We should learn to be more conscious and mindful of the many decisions we make in life, as they ultimately contribute in shaping our future. Even the trivial decisions (which incidentally, I absolutely hate!) could be important and cannot be belittled. I believe that I have come to a point in my life that I can no more dally about, waiting for answers to be given to me. I believe that at 23, I've got to decide what my future should hold for me and what I've got to do now to fulfil it. Call it an epiphany if you like, call it whatever, it doesn't matter.

In actual fact, I believe that we should all stand up to our own fate and challenge it. Whatever is thrown in our faces along the path of life, we throw back with a vengeance. We fight. We fight for what we want, for what we believe in and what we want our future to be. (Gosh, I sound like the Charmed ones! :P) Unfortunately, I believe this is going to be difficult. Not many people are going to be willing to engage in a one-on-one battle with the Almighty (and possibly, imaginary) Lady Destiny for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, we might all just yield and live our lives mediocrely..We might all just be cowards..

It seems obvious, but I believe our future starts from now, the present.. and although it seems daft, I believe we should get down on moulding it. The question is, is this happening? Are we all thinking about reshaping our futures hard enough? Are we doing anything about to secure it? Are we taking it seriously enough? Because from the way we play and play, I have a very strong feeling that most of us... don't.