 | 17 Aug 07 |
With Big Brother. I will not watch it again until Dick the dick is off. And from the looks of what the meddlesome producers have done, the miscreant will survive another week. What I can’t get over is the utter stupidity of the other house members. Argh!
Okay, taking a deep cleansing breath. I’m not going to grumble today. Today is Friday and I woke up alive. My family is healthy and I’m working on a book I love. Life is good. It is good because I have made it good. I am in control of my destiny. I make my choices, and I live with them, and the consequences. I have no one to blame but myself if things go awry. I control my own destiny. Destiny does not control me. Ok, so with that, does fate conspire when someone does something to help or hurt someone else? I mean, let’s say I introduce a writer to an editor and the editor encourages that person to submit and the editor loves it and the person sells. Is that fate? Or is it just a matter of a day in the life of the people involved?
Does fate move some to help and others to hinder? Is there something predetermined? Or is life what we determine? I know we can’t help or control the actions of others, not in the strict sense, and that we can only control what we have direct control over, our choices. But when someone else’s bad choice or good choice impacts our life and we have no control over it, does that mean we really don’t have control? I mean at the end of the day if I do everything right and some drunk runs a red light and creams me, is that fate? Am I destined to die that way?
I firmly believe we are in control of ourselves. Our feelings, our actions. I also believe that what we are in control of can benefit others. If we chose to. If I had a gazillion dollars, I know I would travel the world, not as a gazillionaire, but as a regular Joe (ok I’d stay at nice hotels) and look deep into society and see who would benefit most from my money and then give it. With one condition: Use it for the greater good of mankind.
I watched Apacalypto last night with my son. He promised me it was an inspirational movie, and it was, but it was infused with human cruelty to others. I left the room several times. Watching humans intentionally inflict pain on others sickens me. It’s why I have stopped watching Big Brother 8. The producers are willfully encouraging the housemates to play emotional games with the others. And we are not talking about name calling here, we are talking about willful, hurtful ploys, and verbal attacks that go deeper then a mere insult.
I am proud of myself that I have chosen a higher road to touch people. I’ll take the philanthropic route any day. It’s why I do my First Line Contest. Originally it was a marketing technique, to drive traffic to my website. It’s gone beyond that now. I want to be the catalyst to a writer’s dream of publication. While I can’t publish them, I can open the door to an editor’s office. The 5 finalists in my contest get a 10 page read by a New York editor. This time around Hilary Teeman (formerly Rubin, [she got hitched]) of St Martins is my final judge. I cannot tell you how excited I am.
What I want to know is, it really all about karma? Or is there really a predetermined path?
© 2007 – 2009 Karin Tabke. All rights reserved.
A Cop’s Wife Writes the Cop’s Life:
Award winning author, Karin Tabke isn’t just another author with steamy stories to tell, but a cop’s wife who has “seen it all and heard it all.” Some of the hottest stories come from behind the blue wall of law enforcement rather than from in front. Married to a street cop, now retired, Karin is intimate with both and proves it with her sizzling tales and hot cops. Not only are her cops hot, but so are her sexy knights. Karin’s Blood Sword Legacy series is a must read for anyone who loves tales of yore when men were men and women were women, and love did conqueror all!
Subscribe to Posts 
I don’t believe in predetermination–that essentially means that we are not in control of anything, that everything has been predetermined by a divine power. Catholicism has nixed the idea of predetermination as well, since God gave us free will to make our own choices. (If you’re Catholic, you believe that God KNOWS what choices you WILL make because He exists outside of time, but He doesn’t determine from the womb that you WILL make certain choices.)
Karma–which is essentially the 11th Commandment “do unto others”–is crucial to living a full and giving life. I believe strongly in the 11th Commandment, karma, good will, whatever you want to call it. It’s all the same thing: we need to treat people kindly and help when we can.
You may still be hit by a drunk driver–that’s not destiny. It’s life. In that case, I would want to know that if I’m standing outside the pearly gates looking back on my life, that I don’t have regrets, and most important, that I was a kind and generous person who didn’t hurt anyone intentionally.
by Allison August 17th, 2007 at 7:47 amI believe we are dealt a set of cards, but what we do with them is our choice. What we don’t control is other people’s actions, so like Allison said, we might be hit by a drunk driver. And we don’t control other things like a heart attack or cancer, but how we deal with it is our choice.
Karin I can’t watch human cruelty either. It makes me insanely furious and sick at the same time.
by Jen Apodaca August 17th, 2007 at 8:04 amI think we can’t determine what we get handed to us, but how we deal with life’s triumphs and tragedies is what makes our character.
Karin, you may not be able to publish people, but you do bump them up another step on the way to their dream. And not just with your contest, but with your inspiration and example.
by Amanda August 17th, 2007 at 8:51 amAmanda said: I think we can’t determine what we get handed to us, but how we deal with life’s triumphs and tragedies is what makes our character.
This is beautiful! Very well said.
by Allison August 17th, 2007 at 9:14 amKarin, I agree. Great column.
I LOVE your contest. Giving to others. What a great deal!
by Natalie August 17th, 2007 at 10:26 amYou know those people who are completely confident that they are going to succeed? And then they do?
I’ve always wondered if their confidence comes partly from an intuition of their future success, or if their confidence causes their success. When the feeling is “I just knew I’d succeed,” I don’t necessarily believe that the ability to believe in oneself can be given all the credit.
(Okay, this is a tangent I normally wait until 2 am to get on …)
by spyscribbler August 17th, 2007 at 11:34 amspy, i’m a firm believer in: think it, be it, become it.
by Karin August 17th, 2007 at 12:01 pmif we believe we will succeed, the chances are pretty damned good we will.
is that kinda sorta what you were talking about?
I’m with Allison. When you think about it, another word for the 11th commandment is “networking”. LOL
I do like to think I have a choice, but again, I’m with Allison here. Some things happen because of life and not our choices and not destiny. But everyone has bad things happen to them, and we can make the choice to go on and triumph anyway.
by Edie August 17th, 2007 at 12:31 pmLOL, Karin. I didn’t say that very well, did I? I meant, what if the intuitive knowledge of future success feeds a person’s belief? Then it’s not the person’s strength of belief that fuels their success, but their future success that strengthens their current belief.
Good lord. I feel like I’m talking in riddles! Sometimes, belief is easier than other times. Why is that? What if success isn’t a matter of stronger or weaker belief, but of choosing the path that your intuition tells you will be successful? And in doing so, it’s easier to believe, and therefore not a stronger will that breeds success, but a will headed in the right direction?
I’m still not making much sense, am I?
by spyscribbler August 17th, 2007 at 7:24 pmSpy, you have officially confused me.
by Karin August 17th, 2007 at 9:23 pmI think the answer to your question is both. Everything is a choice. What we do with what comes our way is completely up to the individual. Does karma play a roll? I believe so. What we put into life, comes back to us.
by Lee August 18th, 2007 at 7:40 amOH, how I wish I had seen this entry last year! I would love for that editor (Hilary Rubin Teeman) to see the first line or two of -Little Rituals-, my book that is all about what you just said–is it karma/fate/predestination that drives our lives, or can we make our own luck? Is there such a thing as luck?Can we affect our luck by good deeds or other rituals? My book is all about this. My main character’s search for the nature of luck leads her to her epiphany and to “growing up,” even though she’s thirty. I wish that I could send you, or anyone, the first page or so of the book, because it’s all about the subject of this post. But anyhow, good luck to whoever won that contest and got read.
by Shalanna Collins January 28th, 2008 at 2:36 pm