Malleability of Fate and Pandemic

Fate is both malleable and not. We cannot change the past and we do not know what will come in the future but, we should not leave our life to fate before putting our best effort and there are stuffs that we would not know.

—- Vindo. P

We have heard many people lament over their inability to perform a certain act or skill and claim that they are not fated to be successful in that aspect. Some may claim that they are not lucky enough to achieve those feats. Others may groan it off as not having the opportunities to achieve it. There are many debates whether pure talents beat hard work and vice versa. Have people ever consider how much effort poured by those who have talents and those who have not? Do some people think about predetermined destinies? Do people believe in the concept of ‘making your own destiny’? Is everything that has happened and will happen have been set in stone? Or, is everything that has happened and will happen is the result of our actions? Regardless, many people believe in the concept of Fate. However, can you really call these phenomena “fate”?

There are two answers for this, “yes” and “no”. In consideration of my current affiliation, I will integrate it with qada and qadar, which mean ‘decree’ and ‘fate or predestination’. Both qada and qadar are tied with each other because qadar (predestination) happens due to qada (decree) of God. Despite the meaning, it does not mean human has no force to decide their fate. In fact, you should and ought to make effort to drive your life into the direction you want it. There is always a room for improvement even if the result is different from your initial expectation.

 In accordance with the previous statements, we can conclude that we can change, we can raise up against any anxiety of inability to perform well on certain skill, and we can turn the table of our current condition, as god will change our course of life if we make effort to do that. If you think you do not have the talent, you can put more effort in it. Of course, it is harder but it is not impossible. If you are not lucky, you can make your own luck by planning with your wits and courage. If you have no opportunities you can always try another way using your perception and analysis. It is all about making and taking action. Even if you fail, you have to continue. In the end, you will not reach your destination of you stopped walking and making effort to reach it. Things that we, as a human, would not know are something like the end of the world, our exact date of death, or which talents we were born with, etc.

In short, fate is both malleable and not. We cannot change the past and we do not know what will come in the future but, we should not leave our life to fate before putting our best effort and there are stuffs that we would not know. God encourages his believers to not lose hope and keep on trying, learning, and adapt to changes that happened and will happen.

So, how is it related to our current problem (Covid-19 Pandemic)? Everything that is happened might be a trial, a punishment, a reflection of our action or anything but, regardless of the cause, we should deal with it. Humanity has faced such problem since the ancient times. It is not the first time humanity faced a worldwide pandemic.

Let us look on some other pandemic in the past such as the flu pandemic in 1889 – 1890, the bubonic plague in 1855 – 1960, and the swine flu in 2009 – 2010. It is true that these pandemic has taken many victims but despite the differences in medical knowledge and technology humanity managed to find the cause of it whether by virus, bite of an infected rat, etc.  The symptoms of the disease include cough, nasal congestion and runny nose (for influenza), vomiting, swollen lymph nodes, and headaches (for bubonic disease), etc.  The ways to cure it could be through vaccine, antibody, and immune system and implanting protocol or specialized procedure to control the infection. Collective efforts of prevention are highly important to fight against the virus.

When this article is being written, humanity has found the cause of Covid-19, the transmission, the prevention and common health protocol. The vaccine is being researched and tested. The very least we can do about this is by following the protocol. I understand how stuffy a masker can be. I know how boring it is to be limited on where you can go. I share your frustration for not being able to meet your friends.

Nevertheless, please understand that these changes are for our own good. We should follow the health protocol and abide the law; at least it will minimize the damage and the spread of virus. After all, we have to make a collective effort on its prevention. We have talked about the relation of fate and making action, and we look back a bit about some worldwide pandemic. Even the slightest of action may affect the spread. Let us just hope this perilous time cease. [MFR]