When someone suggest that everything happens for a reason, some people may instantly back off from the conversation; some may embrace the debate; and others may already agree.  There are three positions people can take while talking or debating about this topic.  The first thing you want to do with someone you are debating or having a conversation is making sure they know that you respect them.  Next you want to work on developing a relationship with the person that you are discussing with.  If someone you are talking to does not have your respect then you have already lost the battle of trying to convince them.  A quality that I have when debating someone is that I can gain their respect from the start of the conversation.  I was taught from a very young age to respect everyone you meet no matter their opinion.  Once you have these two things working for you, respecting them and developing a relationship, then I will have the two key components to be able to persuade someone of the truth in my question. Any stance is respectable because everybody is entitled to their opinions but I want this project to make my audience think about my question even after the conversation is over.  Growing up in the Bible belt in the south, a lot of people grow up in church.  I am that guy, when I am home, every time the church doors open, I am there to participate in whatever is going on in the church.  As a child, I did not wonder why my family was doing these things it was just something I looked forward to every week; but as I got older, I became interested in why things happen the way they do.  During the early part of my teenage years I would wonder why my family was going to church.  I wondered if my family’s going to church was because there really was a God who cared about our well-being or did we just do it because everybody else did it.  As I was question myself during that time in my life I came to meet the right people that would help me out with my skepticism.  People that still play a huge role in my life today and who I look up to.  They help me with questions like why does life seem to give us the hard way sometimes or why some people seem never to have anything go wrong in their life?  This is why I am interested in this topic because a couple years ago I questioned situations that would happen to people and wondered if everything happened for a reason.  After asking older, wiser adults I came to realize that everything does happen for a reason.  I do not just believe in this because it was how I was raised but I took to the time and used my resources to find out this answer.   

For thousands of years people have been thinking that life has purpose and there is a such thing as events in life that you go through happen for a reason.  Thinking about it makes you wonder where this belief came from.  A theory of where this statement comes from would be religious teachings.  We think that since we believe in a God, we believe that God, we believe that God destines things to happen for good situations and even the bad.  A statement from Gail Goodwin make a lot of since and is worth considering.  She said, “Where does this belief come from? One theory is that it reflects religious teachings — we think that events have meaning because we believe in a God.”  (Goodwin) If someone you are conversing with has a belief in God then it is much easier to convince them that events have reasons.  As knowledge in modern day time increases, the belief of this statement is on the rise.  As a result of the knowledge increase there is also a lot of people saying they are sick of hearing the statement, everything happens for a reason.  To be honest, people throw the statement around in such a way I think should be avoided for many reason, but the perspective I am making the statement in makes perfect since for people that are willing to listen to my proof. In life, there are good and bad things that happen to everybody but certain situations can help you out in the long run.  Situations that people use the statement in vain for example, would be natural disasters.  People who do not believe in the statement of everything happening for a reason would say, “If everything happened for a reason, why would millions of people die in natural disasters?  Innocent peoples’ lives taken.”  My response to them would be things like that do not happen for reason, it is just a result of being a citizen of this planet.  Earthquakes, tornados, and tsunamis happen from natural selection.  The perspective I am making my argument about is much different than that.  Situations that people go through in life, difficult or times or prosperity, can make them look at life differently and more positively and can enhance their mental strength.  I would call these situations meaningful coincidences because they are true.  These meaningful coincidences can for example will make you stronger as a person to prepare you for another battle that you will go through later in life.  They can also help you meet people who you need to know for example, the Boston bombing that happened in 2013, a man, James Costello, who was a part of the tragedy that day.  Costello did not understand why he happened to be in the bombing, but during his rehabilitation he came to understand why all of that happened to him.  He is a strong believer of everything happening for a reason because he said, “I now realize why I was involved in the tragedy,” he wrote. “It was to meet my best friend, and the love of my life.” (Goodwin) This situation that James Costello went through ultimately helped him meet his wife who was a nurse that helped him recover to get better.

In the book, “There Are No Accidents: Synchronicity and the Stories of Our Lives”, by Robert H. Hopcke, the story originated from a rare dream that Hopcke had.  Hopcke said he is a writer, reader, and a therapist and that his life is, “full of stories.”  He is full of life experiences because of the jobs that he has.  Experience is one of his biggest attributes.  Hopcke states that, “Everyone’s life is based on story-telling.” (Hopcke) Hopcke refers to a respected Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung often in the book introduces a meaningful coincidence theory called “synchronicity”.  This theory supports meaningful coincidences that happen in life and gives people who believe in it a hope and a since of security when it comes to life situations.  In the article, “Everything Happens for a Reason?”, by Zack Hunt, understands what it is like to believe in both sides of the argument.  Earlier on in life, Hunt did not believe in the statement of everything happening for a reason, he just thought that thing happened because they just happened.  There was no reason why these things happened.  Zack Hunt had a change of mind as he matured he started thinking about it more.  Now he does believe that everything happens for a reason but does not believe that God designed these situations to take place; which is an interesting outlook on the question.  He stated that, “If that was true then the God we believe would be evil.” (Hunt) People who believe in God and people that deny God’s existence would both be able to agree.  Hunts gives some great examples that make the belief easier to comprehend.  Hunt gives a positive and negative example and throws in an example of a tragedy.  Mr. Hunt says, “When you got that new job you were hoping for, that happened for a reason — you applied for it, you interviewed well, and the company thought you were the best candidate for the job.” (Hunt) The negative situation of everything happening for a reason would be, “When you failed that test you needed to pass in order to maintain your G.P.A. and keep your scholarship, that too happened for a reason — you spent too much time on Facebook, going out with friends and catching up on your favorite shows when you should have been studying.” An example for people that think that everything does not happen for a reason because of tragedy would be, “And when that young mother and her child were hit by a drunk driver and died tragically in a car accident, that also happened for a reason — someone had too much to drink, and without concern for anyone else’s wellbeing, they got behind the wheel of their car, wherein their impaired judgment and slowed response time resulted in them running a red light and taking the life of a mother and her child.” (Hunt) Even though tragic events happen, there is always a cause for the event that takes place and a reason behind that cause.  I think Zack Hunt did a great job of helping his readers understand that everything happens for a reason with using real life situations that the reader can relate to in order to encourage them to believe that events that take place in our life have a purpose and reason. 

Examples from my life that helped me convince that everything happened for a reason would be coming to college here.  At the time of my arm surgery I was in a very bad situation and I knew it.  I would stay up at night questioning my future and if I was going to be able to come to South Carolina to play baseball.  Most of my life everything went along smoothly.  I made good grades, excelled in sports, and had a great home life.  I worked hard so that I could get recruited by a division I college and I committed to the University of South Carolina my junior year.  Then, my senior year I suffered a shoulder injury and had to have surgery at the beginning of baseball season.  After surgery, I had to work extremely hard to build my strength back and to be able to use my pitching arm.  I feel that the reason for this was to teach me patience and also that everything in life does not come easily.  I never had to work that hard in my life!  Some days I could not do anything but watch baseball, and that’s where the patience came in.  Now I know what it is like to have to work hard for something and that everything does not come easily.  I also met some get athletes and got great advice from them, and I also got to train with some of the best trainers in the country as a result of my surgery.  This has given me some awesome connections for my future in the field of sports and job opportunities.  This down time gave me a lot of time to think and I fueled the passion I already had for baseball. 

My little brother Luke, knew a kid name Jimmy, but they were not close friends.  Jimmy’s mother Stacey, moved Jimmy to Luke’s school and they became good friends because they were in the same class.  Then, we moved on the same street they lived on in town.  A months later, Jimmy’s mom, Stacey, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died within six months.  She thanked my mom right before she died for loving Jimmy and told her that there had to had been a plan all along for Jimmy and Luke to become so close.  Everything such as Jimmy moving schools and us moving to town, fell perfectly into place and happen for the reason to get us right where we needed to be to help this ten year old boy deal with losing his mom.  This is not a coincidence that these sequences of events led us to the right place at the right time.     

Somethings happen to teach us how to deal with pain.  My grandmother lost her fifteen year old daughter in a car accident it was a Sunday afternoon and my Aunt Angie left with her boyfriend to go visit his relatives, little did they know she would not return home.  Their car ran head on into another car, on a long, narrow road and Angie was thrown from the car and killed instantly.  My Grandparents were good people were good people and it seemed so senseless at the time, but my Grandmother will tell you that you do not know what you can handle until you have to.  They learned from being forced into this horrible situation how to deal with pain that does not go away.  That is the only explanation for somethings that happen, just to teach us lessons.  As a result of her death, many adults and teenagers saw how my grandparents’ strong faith helped them through this painful time and were saved.  My grandmother says that for all of those people to come to know Christ because of one person’s death, makes it worth living through the pain of it because all of those people will now be in heaven even though it took this painful tragic event.  

To get some more insight from more sources I decided to interview one of my classmates, Joey Polak, to talk about his experiences with things that has happened in his life that deal with my research question.  I started the conversation off asking Joey if everything happened for a reason and he said, “Yes I do believe everything happens for a reason.”  Then I went on to ask, why he believed this and what made him take this stance on my topic.  Joey replied and said, “When I moved from Florida to the Midwest when he was twelve years old was a big deal.  Not only was it tough to cope with as a young kid, but it was a big lifestyle change as well.  We moved for family personal reasons, but it was a move we really did not want to make.  I was nervous about making the change to a new school and was wondering what baseball team I would play for and how I would make new friends.  My mom would always tell me that everything would be fine and to take it day by day and something good would come out of this move.  When I lived in Florida, I was a good ball player, but moving to the North West gave me better connections with the game of baseball at just the perfect time.  I became friends with the owners of one of the top organizations in the game of baseball, Perfect Game.  It gave me connections when it came to recruiting and enabled me to go to any school of my choice, and I knew I wanted to come back to the South.  Without the move, I knew that would not have been able to have those opportunies in my life.  I knew then that the move was for a reason to better me as a person and ball player.”

When considering if everything happens for a reason and do life events have a greater purpose and meaning can be a great mental approach at the way you view life.  Difficult times can help you meet people that you are destined to be with.  The theory or synchronization is a great theory to follow in life.  Life experiences from family and friends and help you realize that things really do happen for a reason.  The words of singer/songwriter, John Mayer, made it very clear when he said, “Someday, everything will make perfect sense. So, for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, be strong and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason.”   
