Quote Originally Posted by Niya View Post
If I understand correctly, what you're saying is that your life happened with little input from you. You were just along for the ride. I'm sorry but I don't quite agree. Because even the simplest choice is still a choice. Something as simple as saying yes or no to something presented to you by powers beyond your control can still have a drastic effect on the course of your life. A guy steps on your lawn, you can either shoot him dead and spend the rest of your life in prison or you could choose not to shoot him and end up winning the lotto the next day. Whatever choice you make, it could be argued that everything that happens after that choice was a result of that choice. Nothing really happens in your life without your input, even if it's as simple as saying yes.
That's a fair way of seeing things. I don't feel that I was passive. I always had a series of choices laid before me, and I feel I made good, possibly the best, pick from those choices before me. I'm also well aware that I had choices that I didn't seriously consider, which may also have turned out quite well. At every step, I did make a choice, but the truly meaningful ones were only available because of the actions of others...and all of those actions were, in some way, due to things I had done. My choice of grad school was based on a list given to me by my advisor, but I sought him out for those suggestions, and he didn't help me get accepted to them. That first real job was due to things I had no control over, but the job listing was recommended to me because the guy who sent it along thought well of me.

So, it goes both ways to a large extent, but I'm not fully in control. I can choose to walk through the door, and the door is open partly because of my actions, but never entirely because of my actions...in most cases. Of course, in this, as in pretty nearly everything else, you have to add the caveat that there are always exceptions.