Sophocles wrote “Dreadful is the mysterious power of fate, there is no deliverance from it.Not by wealth or by war, by walled city or by dark sea beaten ships”.
When you are faced with life’s battles and you are choosing a weapon, do you choose a shield or a sword?
Believing that whatever happens is pre-ordained and that you have no control over lifes events, means you will choose a shield. A shield may be a wise choice it may protect you from harm, but the end result will be the same, you will still have lost the battle, you will have changed nothing and fate will have its way.
It is so easy to say that however hard you try you can’t change anything, what will be will be, it’s out of your hands. You allow chaos and catastrophe into your life without putting up any defence, feeling resistance is futile. It is so much easier to just lie down and let it all roll over you than to put up a fight.
If you choose the sword you have to fight, you may be wounded but you have a chance to be victorious, to challenge fate and win. If you believe fate can be changed by fortune then as everyone knows fortune favours the brave.
To paraphrase Emilio Zapata it is better to be on your feet and fighting than to keep under the line of fire, by being down on your knees.