Destination: Destiny

As another birthday passes, I find myself reflecting on the past year.  I find myself critiquing what I have done and what I failed to do, what type of person I am and what I would like to become.  As I reflect back on my incidents, I find myself questioning the actions that I have taken and how those actions have affected me in the long run: what purpose did those incidents have on my life or even on others for that matter?  For these past 22 years that I’ve been on earth, what have I contributed? For some reason, I find it very hard to answer this question.  They say that every person has a purpose, but do our actions reflect on what our destiny is or is our destiny already planned out for us? Of course we were all placed on this earth for a reason, but when do we find out what our destiny is. 

In the novel, Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee, chapter 9 talks about a humans’ purpose on earth.  It starts off by talking about Pitaji’s death and how he dies by getting killed by a bull.  The main character further discusses about how her mother took the news and how a family friend consoled her: “The Lord lends us a body, gives us an assignment, and sends us down.  When we get the job done, the Lord calls us home…(59).  The chapter further talks about life assignments and how God gives us one task.  At the end of that task, after we have performed it, it is our turn to pass.  Jasmine (the main character) goes into further detail about how maybe her father’s life assignment was complete and God took the form of the bull that killed him.  She then goes into detail that maybe it was fate that her father died therefore she could marry the man that she wanted, travel to New York and finally be in Iowa.  “I think now that maybe Pitaji’s assignment was to strand me in Iowa, to bring me to Bud…or to bring Du and me together in America.” (60).

One concept in this chapter that caught my attention was the question of existence.  Are we here to just fulfill a life assignment or is there something more to it? Jasmine pointed out how her father’s death was supposed to happen in order for her new life to begin.  Without his death, she would not have had the opportunity to leave her old country and start a new chapter in her life in America.   She wouldn’t have been married, she wouldn’t be pregnant and she wouldn’t be able to help guide Du.  I couldn’t help but reminisce of certain events in my life that have led me to where and who I am today.  Yet reading this chapter, one event appears in my mind: my existence.  Let me further explain.

In 1985 my father was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  This tumor was about the size of a golf ball located near his pituitary gland.  The size of the tumor had placed pressure on many of his nerves causing him to go blind.  The doctor’s said that drastic measures needed to be taken and gave my father his options: operation or death.  Operation options were not easy to decide.  In one operation he had the choice of a shunt being placed in his head or he had the option of having his pituitary gland removed completely.  Both operations were life threatening and the survival rate in coming out of the operation room was low.  After much thought and hours upon hours of prayer, my father took the long procedure of having his gland removed.  Thankfully, he was able to survive the operation and a couple of months later my mother was pregnant with me.  The doctors at UCLA were stunned on how fast his recovery time was and found it to be a miracle that he survived the operation. 

As I read this chapter, the event of my parents telling me this in high school quickly came to mind.  It showed me how precious life really is.  In Jasmine’s case, her father needed to pass in order for her new life to start; whereas in my case, my father needed to survive in order for me to live.     

I do believe that everyone is placed on this earth for a reason and a certain purpose.  It might be something life-changing such as curing cancer or it could be as simple as bringing joy to two people.  Never the less, God has placed us here for a reason.  Many of us might already know what our destiny or “life assignment” is, but to the rest of us, it might take a lifetime to figure out.