Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Time is neutral

Does everything happen for a reason? Is there such thing as fate?
These are some questions that have troubled my mind for quite some time now. The theory of innate meaning, as I like to call it, commonly finds itself assured when a series of bad events end on a good note. For example, married couples that believe their significant other to be their true love, often think of their past lovers as stepping stones that paved the way that ultimately led them to each other.
Dr. King answers these lingering questions in his essay Letter From Birmingham Jail when he correctly points out that "time is neutral". The innate meaning theory, apart for being a good and comforting explanation for decisions or events in our life that we regard as mistakes or painful, is also a useful tool for oppressors. In his letter, MLK strongly rejects the argument that a lot of religious leaders are giving him when asking for patience from the black community by saying that time will eventually bring change. Time does not bring change, we do. To be clear, that statement does not alter or cancel out the concept that change takes time. Both of those hold equal truth. Change requires people to take action, and the continuity and persistence of those actions are the ones that make the change.
Dr. King brilliantly writes that time can "be used destructively or constructively", and in those lines, he is able to embody the whole essence of life and existence. So to myself I reaffirm that things do not just happen, people make them happen. There is such thing as fate, we choose and forge our paths everyday with the decisions we make. And ultimately, what gives meaning to the world, as Dr. King also points out, are the moral causes that we in our hearts choose to fight for.

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