Practical Destiny

May 24, 2009

I’m a big believer in the law of consequences. That is, I believe that if one thing did not happen in the past, then another thing would not have happened later. Let me give you a few examples.

I’m sure some of you have heard of Carlton Fisk, a catcher for the Boston Red Sox and later of the Chicago White Sox. Because of his home run in the twelfth inning of the sixth game of the 1975 World Series, it went seven games. Now think of this: six days earlier, Fisk’s batterymate that night, Luis Tiant, pitched a complete game in Game 4 against the Reds. Had the Red Sox not won that game, there would not be a sixth game in the first place. Extrapolate that just a bit further. If three days of rain had not interrupted the World Series, that sixth game would not have been played at night. The odds are more distant that the iconic image of Fisk waving the ball fair would even exist and become one the most enduring moments in sports television history. And had the ball not bounced fair off the left field foul pole in Fenway Park, it would not have just recently been rededicated in Carlton Fisk’s honor. Think about all that. Amazing, isn’t it?

Here’s a more recent example; there is an Austrian filmmaker called Michael Haneke. You’ll be reading about him soon enough. In 2000, he made a film called The Piano Teacher. Had Haneke never read the Elfriede Jelinek novel on which the film was based, he would never have made it, and my current idol, French actor Isabelle Huppert, would only have one Best Actress prize at Cannes and not two. Go a little further with this. If Haneke had never made The Piano Teacher, much less had the worldwide success with it that he did, he probably would not have had the ability or wherewithal to make a film called The White Ribbon. Two hours ago, Isabelle Huppert, the President of the Jury at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, gave Michael Haneke the Palme D’Or for The White Ribbon. That exchange would never have happened if The Piano Teacher did not exist.

I just found another, better example. Take Helio Castroneves, a Brazilian who drives open-wheel race cars. Had he not won the Indianapolis 500 in back-to-back years (2001 and 2002), I might never have heard of him; he’d be one of thirty-three drivers in thirty-three cars running round and round the oval at Indianapolis. And if I didn’t know his name, I would never have known he won a celebrity ballroom dancing competition in 2007. Now consider this. In 2008, Castroneves was charged with tax evasion and tried. Had he been convicted, Castroneves would not have competed in, or even won, his third Indianapolis 500… one hour ago. He’d be in a cell, contemplating his fate.

My point, since I can practically feel the words on your tongue, is that if you study people you admire closely enough, you can see how the greatest moments of their lives were shaped. Nothing separates the great from the small quite like destiny; it’s the great intangible, greater than luck or chance. Our lives are planned for us long before we are born, but watching the course get charted is so much fun. Destiny is such a powerful force that I catch myself slack-jawed, and even at a loss for words. Which is what I am right now. I guess the amount I don’t understand about destiny could fill the Grand Canyon…