“Everything Happens for a Reason.”
Does that quote indicate a belief in Fate? Consider the following scenarios.
1. Jay causes a traffic accident that severely wounds another driver and her child but spares Jay any injury and barely even damages his car. He is however arrested on suspicion of recklessness following an investigation of the accident scene. After a night in jail, Jay has to face his father, Zed, who has come to bail him out. Before he agrees to pay, Zed asks his son for an explanation. “Everything happens for a reason,” he says to Jay.
2. Kay lies in her hospital bed clinging to life. She had been drinking heavily the night of the accident, while driving her daughter home. Deeply shamed by her behavior and buoyed by the outpouring of love and concern from her friends who visit her bedside, Kay reconnects with her life and family and resolves to quit her irresponsible behavior. Suffering intense pain from her injuries, she nevertheless tells her friend, “Everything happens for a reason.”
3. Jay has no contact with Kay during her hospitalization, but the death of Kay’s daughter fills him with guilt and remorse. He sees the accident as an indictment of his recklessness but senses the hand of God at work in sparing him. He doesn’t change his behavior in any way, but ever after believes that whatever occurs in his life is God’s will, over which he has no control and for which he has no responsibility. “Everything happens for a reason,” is how he describes the human condition.
4. Zed regrets having raised a son as irresponsible as Jay and resolves to do a better job with his daughter Dee. Together they form an organization called Teens at the Scene that promotes safe teenage driving, accident prevention, and emergency responsiveness. After years of labor, they take the group national, score big, and become very influential, as well as rich. Zed proposes a toast to their good fortune, but Dee replies, “Dad, everything happens for a reason.”
Exercise
Regarding the four declarations that “everything happens for a reason,” in a Reply below,
- Number your answers 1-4.
- Identify which of the four declarations are expressions of a belief in fate.
- For those that are not, describe what they do declare.
Counterintuitive 
1. This is not in reference to fate, more Jay’s father saying to him that actions have consequences, and wishes to know what it was that caused the accident. “everything happens for a reason,” where the father wants to know what said reason is.
2. Perhaps this is in reference to fate, as with the mothers drinking getting out of control, “everything happens for a reason” could be in reference to if she didn’t get involved with the accident she may have ended up worse due to the alcohol. Maybe fate is playing a part wherein the accident opened up a path for her to follow that will better her.
3. Not so much as fate, but more the belief that everything happens because God predestines what will happen. Everything happens because God makes it so, according to Jay.
4. Dee is saying how fate may have had a hand in this, if Jay didn’t get in the accident all the splendors that Dee and Zed are enjoying wouldn’t have happened. Fate can be tied into this based on what we already know occurred, and what will occur.
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1. The first quote does not express a belief in fate, but rather Jay is trying to convince himself and his father that he is not really at fault. It is more of a cause and effect type of expression rather than fate.
2.This quote expresses a belief in fate, not in a religious way but in a secular way.
3. This quote very clearly and obviously expresses a belief in fate and in God.
4.This quote expressed belief in fate again but not as much as in a religious way. It is more of a secular type fate, that one bad thing can have an effect on many people in many good ways.
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1. Not fate, Zed, by saying to his son “everything happens for a reason” is attempting to get him to learn from his mistake and find the reason behind the accident.
2. Not fate, Kay is making a conscious decision to change her life, effectively learning from her experience but taking responsibility for future actions.
3.fate
4. not fate, Zed and Dee use the accident as a reason to aid in preventing future reckless car accidents.
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1) A belief in fate to show the consequences of Jay being reckless.
2) Not a belief since Kay lied about not having a drink and probably got Jay in trouble with the police even more. Where she could of got in trouble as well if she told the truth.
3) Not a belief since Jay continues his terrible ways and doesn’t change even though he said “whatever occurs in his life is God’s will.”
4) A fate in belief where if Jay never continued his way, then Zed and Jay would of never been able to make the organization.
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1. Jay causes a traffic accident that severely wounds another driver and her child but spares Jay any injury and barely even damages his car. He is however arrested on suspicion of recklessness following an investigation of the accident scene. After a night in jail, Jay has to face his father, Zed, who has come to bail him out. Before he agrees to pay, Zed asks his son for an explanation. “Everything happens for a reason,” he says to Jay.
Not a belief in fate. There wasn’t a positive outcome, he just left jail. He used “Everything happens for a reason” just because he felt like saying it.
2. Kay lies in her hospital bed clinging to life. She had been drinking heavily the night of the accident, while driving her daughter home. Deeply shamed by her behavior and buoyed by the outpouring of love and concern from her friends who visit her bedside, Kay reconnects with her life and family and resolves to quit her irresponsible behavior. Suffering intense pain from her injuries, she nevertheless tells her friend, “Everything happens for a reason.”
She believes in fate. This is saying that her accident is the reason her family and friends are back in her life and showing her love at the moment. For whatever reason, she needed to be hospitalized to reconnect with her friends and family.
3. Jay has no contact with Kay during her hospitalization, but the death of Kay’s daughter fills him with guilt and remorse. He sees the accident as an indictment of his recklessness but senses the hand of God at work in sparing him. He doesn’t change his behavior in any way, but ever after believes that whatever occurs in his life is God’s will, over which he has no control and for which he has no responsibility. “Everything happens for a reason,” is how he describes the human condition.
This is an indication of fate. Jay feels as though he can use visiting his daughter as a way to make up for being a crappy person. Which isn’t even true.
4. Zed regrets having raised a son as irresponsible as Jay and resolves to do a better job with his daughter Dee. Together they form an organization called Teens at the Scene that promotes safe teenage driving, accident prevention, and emergency responsiveness. After years of labor, they take the group national, score big, and become very influential, as well as rich. Zed proposes a toast to their good fortune, but Dee replies, “Dad, everything happens for a reason.”
This is an indication of fate. They used the accident as a way to start the organization to made them rich. It is also saying that the work they put in for years made them influential. This idea of fate is a two part.
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1. I think this is just wishful thinking because they are he is trying to soften a blow of just causing an accident and saying that something good will come out of this.
2. This is an example of fate because she had this coming for her because of her reckless choices of driving while intoxicated.
3. I see this as an example of religion and his faith in God.
4. I see this as someone who wants to do better because of an incident that happened and he worked hard to make that change.
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1. They declare that an event is the result of a reason. Kay and her daughter got into an accident for a reason, maybe it was because they were drinking while driving.
2. Fate
3. This declares that the daughter was the unlucky one who’s life has been taken, I find no reason as to why fate has taken over the event, just an unfortunate turn of events
4. Fate
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1. By using the explanation of “everything happens for a reason,” immediately after the accident when Jay’s father bails him out of jail, it seems that he is dodging the blame of the accident even before a proper investigation is conducted.
2. This second one is fate. The fact that both parties involved in the accident could be at fault, one for reckless driving and the other for drinking and driving, that is fate.
3. It seems as though Jay is hiding behind the saying, “everything happens for a reason.” It states that Jay will not change his behavior even though he is at fault for the death go Kay’s daughter. Even if Jay truly believes that he has no control over the will of God, Jay has control over his actions and will cause more fatal accidents if he doesn’t change.
4. This last statement is not necessarily fate because Jay’s father knew the right people to get the Teen at the Scene campaign started.
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1. I do not believe the first scenario to be a belief in fate, and view it more as an expression of guilt. Jay knows he is a reckless driver and was driving reckless the night of the accident. If he believed in fate at or before that point, he would’ve made an effort to change his driving. He didn’t and now he causes an accident injuring someone else. Now he feels guilt and now believes that now that it did actually happen, it happened because of him for the reason of him not believing in fate.
2. Again similar to the first situation the person involved doesn’t believe in fate initially or they would’ve done something earlier in their lives to prevent this type of situation from happening.
3. Now having experienced what has happened, Jay now believes in fate as he believes he was spared for a reason. Jay now views him surviving as an act of God to decide his fate.
4. The last one is a little confusing as the situation is about Zed but the quote is by his daughter Dee. So Dee is the one, in my opinion, who believes in fate in this situation.
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1. Zed believes that everything has a cause and an effect when he says “Everything happens for a reason.” This isn’t a belief in Fate.
2. Kay seems to be speaking out of guilt and implied that it is her fault that the accident happened. This is a cause and an effect situation which isn’t a belief in Fate.
3. This paragraph is a belief in Fate as Jay has the sense of God’s hand and believes that he has no control of his destiny since God commands it.
4. Dee states that the reason why they are successful with their organization is the result of the accident. She believes in Fate.
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1. This reference is not a belief in fate. Jay’s father Zed is mostly saying that certain actions have consequences and wants to know what caused the accident. When Jay says “everything happens for a reason”, Jay’s father wants to know what that reason is.
2. I believe that this could be a belief in fate. With Kay’s drinking problem, when she says, “everything happens for a reason” if she didn’t end up in the hospital, then her drinking problem could get worse and not be willing to change. But because she did land in the hospital, this could be the push that she needed to change her life and could be defined as fate.
3. I don’t think this reference is a belief in fate. It is more like the belief that everything happens because God will make it happen. Everything happens because God will make it so, according to Jay.
4. Dee is saying that fate may have played a role in their current situation. If Jay didn’t get into the accident, then Zed and Dee wouldn’t be where they are currently with the program that they created and enjoying all the benefits. Fate can be tied into this scenario based on what has already occurred and what will occur.
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1. They declare that the consequences of Jay driving drunk is the car accident that he caused. More of a cause and effect and “everything that happens, happens for a reason.”
2. This is a belief in fate. One of the individuals was in an accident fr reckless driving while the other was in an accident for drinking and driving.
3. Fate because Jay feels the sense of God’s hand.
4. Fate because one bad thing can cause many good things to happen.
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1. This is not fate. His father really wants a reason for why Jay caused an accident. This isn’t an indication of fate, because his father is demanding a logical explanation,
2. I think Kay is suggesting that she believes in fate. She believes wholeheartedly that this accident happened for a “reason”. Some outside force that wanted to change her life for the better.
3. I think Jay is trying to use fate to justify things to himself. He wants to believe life is out of his control, that it isn’t his will or decisions that cause re precautions in life.
4. I don’t think Dee is proclaiming that fate is the reason. I think she’s suggesting that there was a cause and effect that lead to their riches and success. It was their own hard work that got them to where they are.
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1. Not fate, Zed just wants an explanation for his son’s behavior. He doesn’t believe it is fate that put his son in this predicament.
2. Fate, this accident that occurred seems like it will have a positive impact on Kay’s life. Fate has brought this incident upon Kay and her life has been affected because of it.
3. Not fate, this is a belief in god/religion. He believes it is god controlling his life, not fate.
4. Fate, Dee says everything happens for a reason, and in the context of this situation it has been fate that brought them to this point. All the choices Zed made and his fate enabled him to create his organization and become successful.
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1) Is NOT a declaration of fate. Zed wants to know why his son hit that car. He wants answers as to why it happened, what was his son thinking, and other parental questions like that. Zed does not feel that fate caused his reckless son to hit another vehicle.
2) Is a declaration of Fate.
3) Is a declaration of Fate.
4) Is a declaration of Fate.
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1. The first scenario is not a reference to fate. It seems as though Jay only said “Everything happens for a reason” because he could not come up with an explanation for his destruction.
2. I believe this scenario is an example of fate in Kay. It seems as though she says “Everything happens for a reason” because her deathly condition caused by drinking motivated her to quit her addiction.
3. This is an example of fate for Jay. Although this realization that “Everything happens for a reason” doesn’t cause a change in Jay, he believes there is a higher power that is the reason for all of his decisions and results.
4. Dee seems to believe in fate in this scenario. In this case, she believes that Zed’s neglect towards Jay caused him to work harder at building a relationship with Dee.
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1. In this case, I feel that Jay is not taking responsibility for his actions by stating “everything happens for a reason” and could be referring to fate; it just happened because it was supposed to and there is no reasoning behind it . His father, however, wants the actual reasoning for it..the actual cause. Were you using your phone? Were you drinking?
2. The accident did not occur because of Kay, although she was drunk driving and because of this she believes fate interveined, teaching her a very hard lesson.
3. Again, fate. Not taking responsibility for his actions and relying on god to make it all right. In his reality, god is in control of his life, not himself.
4. Cause and effect. Exactly what I said in class, certain actions made, a small decision like Jay answereing a text message (or whatever it was that happened,) which led to crash, which led to the poor girls death, which led to this succesful organization. Good or bad, everything happens for a reason and that reason being an actual reason..not fate.
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1. This is not fate. Jay is using this phrase as an excuse for his actions. There was a reason for him causing the accident, and he uses this phrase as its cause, even though he was recklessly driving.
2. This is fate. Although Kay didn’t say that she was drinking and driving, the accident was a wakeup call for her to get her life back on track and to stop drinking.
3. This isn’t so much fate as it is faith. Fate is believing in the universe while faith is believing in God. In this case, Jay is more religious than secular, as he explains life is in God’s hands. In this case, he is expressing more religious beliefs than fate ideologies.
4. This is fate. Zed and Dee used Jay’s accident to start this organization to help others. Without the accident, they wouldn’t have started it.
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1) I do not believe in fate in the first one scenario from Jay’s perspective. It was his own choice to drive recklessly therefore putting himself and others in danger.
2) I strongly believe that this scenario is based on God’s fate. Kay was shown her wrong path she was going to and this accident was a certain a wake up call if you will.
3) not fate , because Jay continues his terrible behavior.
4) fate
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1. This is not a belief in fate in my opinion. I believe it is more of an expression of guilt or wrongdoing.
2. I believe that she thinks this is fate because she almost died but in reality it was bound to come to her at some point in time. It wasn’t necessarily fate that got her into an accident. it was her actions that brought her there.
3. Everything happens for a reason seems to be a disregard for free will in this case.
4. I believe that fate brought the daughter and the father together. But also it could just be results of other outside actions that brought them together.
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1. In this scenerios “Everything happens for a reason” was said as a question, and not as a believe in faith, and/ or outside forces. That statement was suppoed to hint to Jay, that it is about time he stop being irresponsible.
2. Kay believes her action lead her to the where she is, and the statement “everything happens for a reason” shows the deep shame she has for being irresponsible while driving.
3. This scenerio, shows Jay belief in fate. he was “lucky” to live.
4. This scenerio, shows belief in fate, because if it wasn’t for Jay’s careless driving they wouldn’t have reached the point they are.
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1.) This is not in reference to fate, and in accordance to that jay’s father says that “everything happens for a reason” due to which he bails him out of the jail. and by saying this the father is expecting a clear explanation of the accident from Jay.
2.) this is a expression of fate, because the Jay’s mother was involved in the accident because of her excessive drinking while bringing her daughter back home. hence it cannot be the expression of “everything happens for a reason.” thus it justifies that due to her fate , as due to which she will get connected to her friends and family again and hence can be helped to leave alcohol.
3.) this is not the expression of fate instead it is the expression of the “everything happens for a reason” according to the gods will. and due to the accident Kay lost her daughter because of her recklessness. and hence had the immerse guilt of that within her.
4.) it is expression of fate because the accident meant to happen and was controlled by the god and due to which Kay lost her daughter. but on the other hand if the accident hadn’t happened then Dee and Zed wouldn’t have created the organisation. hence it is not the expression of “everything happens for a reason.”
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– 1. This quote is not related to belief in fate. It seems to me that in this declaration Jay is trying to justify his actions
– 2. Fate. It seems that the accident happened for a purpose, which is that Kay needed to stop drinking and driving. Now, Kay believes that the accident happened to teach her a lesson.
– 3. Fate. This declaration is related to religion. Jay believes in destiny.
– 4.Fate. It seems to me that Dee truly believes that if it wasn’t for the accident, they would not have created the organization. Belief in destiny.
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