We make our own beds and then we lie in them. Distilled down to life’s bare essence, this is as elementary as it gets. You act and then God…..life…..destiny…..fate…..kismet…..an unknown, unnamed deity…..the Universe incarnate…..whatever you want to call the all-powerful entity that governs every circumstance associated with the passage of time—or perpetual ungoverned chaos, if such is the case as it may well be—will react to what you have done. You are powerless then. At that juncture the ball is in another’s court and completely out of your hands. Never forget that every person alive exercises some degree of free will over the direction their life will follow, but that “free will” only extends so far and weighs so much. The rest belongs exclusively to Somebody or Something Else far mightier than thee.
Fred's Soapbox 