Fate and the Tapestry of our Lives

I am currently still sick.. and I really hate it. Yet instead of doing homework or adding more hours to my already excessive sleep agenda, I'm sitting here writing yet again. I think I'm getting addicted.. not necessarily a bad thing though. Have you ever had a day where one word or concept keeps randomly popping up and gets your attention? Todays' random word was "tapestry" which isn't really used on an everyday basis, not by me anyway. The first time it came up was when I was reading someone else's book in 4th period out of sheer boredom. I didn't really think much of it and didn't think of it again until later. The second time "tapestry" came up was when I was in English class [we actually do stuff now .. its incredible!] where we are reading Shakespeare's "Macbeth." Sorrentino was saying something about how the themes of many Shakespearean plays are bases on "the fates" and how they weave the tapestry of life, and how the characters of the play complete it. So I sat there thinking to myself.. "God this sounds soo familiar! Tapestry... Fates. Spinning, measuring, cutting." Then it hit me! I was remembering the Greek myth of the Moerae, but I'll get into that later. The last time tapestry came up was when when I got home from school. After I took a nap, I started to listening to the singer Carole King on some of my moms CD's. I noticed there was a song called "Tapestry" on one of the CD's so I listened to it and looked up the lyrics. Then everything from my day all seemed to tie together...

For those of you who aren't big mythology buffs I'll briefly tell you about the Moerae, more commonly known as the "Three Fates." In greek mythology the Three Fates are a triad of three goddesses; three sisters who determine the course of life for every mortal. Each sister had a specific task: Clotho, who spins the thread of life with her silver spindle, Lachesis, who measures it with her divine meauring tape, and Atropus, who cuts the thread and ends it with her silver sheers. None of the sister godesses could function alone. A thread might be spun, but endlessly and without purpose or its natural course. Or without the spinning there is nothing to measure, nothing to cut. They are three parts with one purpose. Alone they would be nothing but ordinary if interesting women. Together, the most powerful and honored of the gods. The legend goes that each human is given their own thread of life which is spun, measured, and cut by the Three fates. Throughout their course, lives circle around and intersect. The threads touch and bounce off eachother, weaving into a colorful tapestry.

One of my favorite quotes from a novel by Nora Roberts:
"Fate isn't preordained. It isn't as simple as that. Fate isn't black or white, right or left. People aren't just plopped down and made to follow one route in life on the whims of the gods. If that were true, we'd have to say Hitler was only a victim of his own destiny, and therefore blameless. What I'm trying to say is that we have decisons to make, actions to take, good ones and bad ones that make up the texture of our lives. Everything we do or don't do matters. Everything counts at the end of the day. But the tapestry that started with the people who came before us isn't finished. Now we are the threads. We've begun to choose the pattern, at least individually, that we hope to make. We've still to agree on, to decide the pattern we want to make together. I believe theres a reason we came together like this, a reason we have a pattern to make. We have to see it through, try to find a way to complete it. I believe we're meant to try."

Interesting concept right? To think that maybe things happen the way they do for a reason? I'm not really sure what I believe, but I think it could be possible.. and hey, I like to dream a bit =). Maybe we should just relax and see where things take us. If it was meant to be than it was meant to be. Just relax, enjoy life, and let what may happen come to be. But then the question is: Should we take action and make a decision now that could dictate what happens with the rest of our lives? Once we weave a pattern in the delicate tapestry that makes up our lives, it is irreversible. There is no turning back and no erasing the past. Will we be able to look back upon the loom and feel no regret at the paths we have chosen, the patterns we have made, the intertwining relationships with others? Or will we wish that we had made the pattern more intricate? more colorful? more meaningful?

"My life has been a tapestry
Of rich and royal hue;
An everlasting vision
Of the ever-changing view;
A wond'rous woven magic
In bits of blue and gold;
A tapestry to feel and see;
Impossible to hold."-Carole King