Poll: Everything happens for a reason?

[Flyback]

I don't usually get worked up over expressions but this one bothers me a lot.

Does it mean one believes in determinism? Are they relinquishing any sort of decision making power and responsibility when saying it?
"It's okay you failed school son. Everything happens for a reason."
"You know, I made some bad choices in life but I believe everything happens for a reason."
"Can you believe that girl got raped? But like they say, everything happens for a reason."
"It's a tragedy that the family of 5 burned to death in that house, but I know everything happens for a reason."

Given its recent popularity (I hear it many time a day) adds to my hatred of it :Q

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Reason- The Cause

Failed School- Didn't Study
Bad Choices- Stupidity
Rape- Guy was Horny
Tragedy- Fire started

 

[Flyback]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13
Reason- The Cause

Failed School- Didn't Study
Bad Choices- Stupidity
Rape- Guy was Horny
Tragedy- Fire started

:laugh: well I think in those instances the expression refers to something more supernatural if you will

 

[Mucho]

Its just a way to rationalized screwups.

 

[child of wonder]

For me, the saying doesn't mean there's a mystical force guiding events, more that everything has unseen consequences in the future and even the worst things can end up being a positive in the future.

For instance, had I never taken a chance with dating my wife back when I was 22 and she was 17 then made the mistake of getting her pregnant a couple months after she turned 18 then we wouldn't have stayed together, I wouldn't have the great wife and kids I do today, I wouldn't have gone back to school and been successful, etc......

Everything is part of the puzzle that is my life. So even when something negative happens, I try to remember that it's all part of a greater whole.

 

[GDaddy]

It is also a way to take a negative and start to try to look at it in a possitive way, like every cloud has a silver lining.

 

[vi edit]

If you look at it one sided sure there is for almost any situation. If a guy slams 12 drinks at the bar, tries to drive home and crosses over the median killing a family of 5 process...there's a reason for drunk.

But that doesn't explain anything for the helpless family that was part of it.

 

[ggnl]

That expression mkakes me want to choke people.

That is all.

 

[hypn0tik]

Yes. All things happen for a reason.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I do not hear it often, and I am sure something happens for a 'reason'

 

[moshquerade]

i get tired of hearing that expression, but things that have happened to me in my life, in hindsight i can say, happened for a reason.

 

[SoulAssassin]

We need to differentiate between the reason something happened and the cause.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
i get tired of hearing that expression, but things that have happened to me in my life, in hindsight i can say, happened for a reason.

There are some things that I absolutely refuse to believe happen for a reason. Just last week some punk piece of crab lobbed a foot long chunk of landscaping stone off the top of an interstate overpass and it hit a car and killed a 26 year old girl that was riding in it.

Nobody has a clue who did it. I'm sure if somebody tried hard enough they could fabricate some kind of reason that she died as a coping mechanism. But really, that was just sheer bad luck and due to some kid being a reckless piece of crap.

 

[Flyback]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: moshquerade
i get tired of hearing that expression, but things that have happened to me in my life, in hindsight i can say, happened for a reason.

There are some things that I absolutely refuse to believe happen for a reason. Just last week some punk piece of crab lobbed a foot long chunk of landscaping stone off the top of an interstate overpass and it hit a car and killed a 26 year old girl that was riding in it.

Nobody has a clue who did it. I'm sure if somebody tried hard enough they could fabricate some kind of reason that she died as a coping mechanism. But really, that was just sheer bad luck and due to some kid being a reckless piece of crap.

And I think that highlights the danger of thinking in this way. When someone applies it to their life they seem to pick and choose where it fits.

If it was consistent--the bad and the good together, then it wouldn't be as bad (it would still be pretty depressing that you believe that you don't control your life/there are reasons outside of your own abilities.. assuming one likes to believe they have control of their life and their accomplishments were their own doing).

 

[yosuke188]

Please read Candide by Voltaire.

 

[clickynext]

No, I don't really think anything has a supernatural cause. It sure feels like it sometimes, though.

 

[Vic]

If, by "everything happens for a reason," one means scientific causality, then yes. One thing definitely does lead to another... and another.... and another.
If one means through subsconscious will (i.e. people who surround themselves with negative emotions bring negative results and vice versa), then yes.
If one means through unintended consequence (i.e. well-meaning people who consistently fail to consider the full ramifications of their actions), then yes.
If one means through supernatural intervention, then no. Given the above, how is that even required? We are creating our own reality and we are intervention enough.

 

[meltdown75]

...and the reason is you.

 

[Captante]

(1) Yes ... everything does happen for some reason.

(2) Yes ... I get tired of hearing people who have nothing thoughtful to add to a conversation toss out cliche's of any kind.

 

[George P Burdell]

The universe is random.

 

[BurnItDwn]

The cause and the reason are always scientific and the same.

 

[irishScott]

The expression has some validity from certain perspectives. Although it's overused as all hell. I prefer to look at it this way:

Good people generally have good/fullfilling lives
Bad people generally have bad/unfullfilling lives

Luck is involved of course, but in general, that's how things work.

ie:

I may or may not die from a heart attack. However, I can exercise and eat healthy to lower the risk by an extremely large degree, almost to the point where I am guranteed to not have one. Of course, I could have a genetic predisposition I dont' know about and die from it anyways, but in general, people who exercise and eat healthy don't have heart problems.

*Wonders if it's a coincicence that he's eating a Snickers bar as he types this*

 

[Dumac]

The saying is true, though reason is far from supernatural.

 

[fliguy84]

It's a more polite way of saying 'sh1t happens'.

 

[NanoStuff]

Right they are, not that it's a good idea to use it as an excuse. But true is true.