The general acceptance of this truism notwithstanding, things are NEVER “meant to be”. People—typically two people—must make a conscious decision in order to manifest destiny. Accidents “happen”; life does not. Decisions are made by discerning individuals; they don’t just fall haphazardly out of the sky or crawl out of the woodwork like a scurrilous Asian beetle on a warm March morning. The workings of fate? Well, yes, of course fate exists as a huge, shape-shifting, monolithic entity, but the big bus of fate requires a driver just like any other, thus you may as well commandeer that temporal vehicle and take your rightful place behind its steering wheel purely so you can influence the direction it is headed to the utmost of your ability. A million unsavory extraneous things could happen while you’re piloting said bus, true enough, but by taking firm control of its steering wheel you will henceforth have succeeded in eliminating one potential pitfall so I guess the number now stands at 999,999. Forget the daunting scale for a second; that represents an absolute improvement—inarguably!
Fred's Soapbox 