Master of my Fate

Jean Valjean was a man down on his luck. In Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, he was sentenced nineteen years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family. It was grossly unjust and he was bitter against the system, but then a life changing event occurred. In the town of Digne, every door was closed against Valjean except that of the bishop who took him in for the night. Jean Valjean repays his host by stealing his fine silver. The police catch him and bring him back before the bishop who surprised Jean Valjean by insisting he had gifted the silver to him thus keeping him from being cast back in prison. This singular act of kindness was so astonishing for Valjean that the entire trajectory of his life was altered. He became a prosperous merchant and a charitable man. He helped many and among them were Fantine and Cosette.

Charles R. Swindoll wrote “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” This author is in total agreement. For Jean Valjean, the wrongful conviction and the bishop were his 10%. What he did in response and how he lived his life thereafter were the 90%. The quote by Swindoll highlights the role played by freewill. Think of the obverse. If life were 90% what happened to you, when two roads diverged in a yellow wood, we would all choose the same path – not the road less traveled by as noted by Robert Frost. As usual, The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling is instructive. We have my favorite tale, that of the Deathly Hallows. Three brothers were confronted by the same situation. Death was blocking their passage on a bridge over a river. Death offered each brother a prize. They each chose a separate object. One brother chose the elder wand and was almost immediately murdered for his prized possession. The second chose the resurrection stone, and brought his loved one back to life. She disappointed his expectations, and he committed suicide. The third brother asked for an invisibility cloak. He evaded Death for many years until he removed the cloak and greeted Death as an old friend. If life were 90% what happened to you, the three brothers would have chosen the same object and suffered the same fate, but each brother chose differently and had a different fate in store.

This quote also applies to real life. Take Joe Rantz for example. His story is recounted in the book The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. Joe Rantz grew up in rural Washington during The Great Depression. One afternoon, he returned home from school, and his stepmother and step siblings were in the car with the engine running. His father was on the porch. He said, “Joe, we're moving, and you're not coming with us.” That was the 10%. How about this for the 90%? Joe did not let that get to him or define him. He worked odd jobs to put himself through highschool. He was recruited to row crew at the University of Washington, and won a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics.

In fact the 10/90 dichotomy is the underpinning of our democracy. As citizens, we are faced with the same circumstances, but as voters we have a choice on how to address something. A voting democracy makes sense only where the voters have free will. People can only be punished for crimes against the state under the notion they were free to choose otherwise. Moreover, as elected officials address bills and agendas, they are faced with choices everyday that spring from their 10% experience and start to shape the 90% future. As noted by William Henley in his classic poem Invictus: “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” Let's get that 90%!