Do you believe in fate?

Not something I would ever normally post but I had a series of coincidence happen tonight where I was in the right place, at the right time, with the right tools.

1. Kids were staying at Nanna's house tonight, I was running incredibly late because the printer jammed and Chrissy urgently needed stuff printed for work (the printer has been going strong for ten years and never jams)

2. I made a last minute decision to put my tools in the car to put up a cabinet at Nanna's place - a job I have been putting off for 12 months now.

3. I pulled off the motorway and saw that fuel was cheap so decided to top up, I only fill up once a month because I work 5 minutes from home.

There were 4 blokes harrassing a fellow who was agitated and I initially thought was drug affected.

While I was filling up the fellow (Jeff) came over, started pacing up and down in front on my car and told me he had run out of fuel 1km down the motorway, had no money and needed a couple of litres of fuel. Jeff had a 10L container but no funnel to get the fuel in the tank. I was hesitant to help Jeff because it was 11pm, not many people around, he was a fairly rough looking fellow and I thought he was under the influence.

Jeff had an empty water bottle, I had a stanley blade in my tool box and managed to cut it into a funnel. I also had a long gyprock saw to push open the spring loaded flap under the fuel cap. I put a couple of litres of fuel in the container for him.

Because Jeff was still agitated I wasn't keen on him getting into my car, by this stage I realised Jeff wasn't drug affected but intellectually delayed and agitated due to the 4 young blokes harassing him.

The Police pull up, the 4 young blokes called up and claimed he was threatening people for fuel. The police are kind enough to give Jeff a lift back to his car, we get the fuel in with no dramas and he's on his way.

Series of flukes or fate?

 

I think things happen for a reason, but in saying that, with the benefit of hindsight it's fairly easy to twist (not in a bad way) the story or events to suit the motivation or outcome so it seems more than it actually was.

 

Well there's a fence sitter answer if I ever saw one!

 

The Psychology of Coincidence | psychology24.org

 

I'm not quite sure where fate/coincidence is in your story is to be honest.

But my story of fate is of me driving to my sisters house to see her new pool. (It cost something like 100k!!). I did the driving. As it was a Saturday and I was driving (not my partner) I drove to the opens I see while on my way. I saw one... just a boring house asking price was a crazy amount of money. So I continued driving. I saw another sign for the next street. Partner goes, "I didn't come here to look at open houses"... anyway I was the driver so I had control. And that's when we saw her.

Fate! Anyway, if he was driving we might not have stopped to look at the second house...
Also if it was just me driving in the car by myself and he didn't see it at the first time with me maybe there was a chance he wouldn't have been on board...

Gotta be in the right place, right time and also knowing the market really helps so you don't hesitate to move forward when you spot the gem.

 

You did a good thing helping out Jeff and I'm sure it'll come back to you in one way or another

 

No, not at all.

"When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail".

 

After few series of events, I'm not sure if I can place everything under 'coincidence' anymore.

 

I believe you are responsible for everything in your life.
Great that you helped out that man.

 

Great read Steven.

 

The 3 last minute/unplanned occurrences put me where Jeff was at the exact time I needed to be there.

I'm overthinking it

 

So you're saying I have a case of Apophenia?

Sounds about right

 

Pre-ordained fate - no.

Inevitability - yes.

E.g. "He's got a good attitude, he'll inevitably get there"

People often confuse the two.

 

In more recent years I have completely lost all faith/belief in religion and I would put things like fate and karma in the same category.

Good on you for helping out. The world needs more of that.

 

I do - at the risk of sounding airy fairy. Too many key events in my life with unpredictable but equally amazing/coincidental outcomes to ignore. I don't consider it 'fate' but trust the right outcomes always present at the correct time

 

How about this @Steven Ryan and @Gockie :

The operator cut off the petrol pump at $1.97 because he thought it wasn't going to be paid for.

I had exactly $2 in my pocket.... Undeniable proof of fate ..........

 

That's awesome.

 

I had an extremely important appointment once but no change for parking meter and no time to get any. Thought ahead I need parking meter out the front with the full amount already in it. Guess what, pulled up out the front there was the meter with full time already on it. Couldn't believe my eyes, true story, and I got the deal.

 

It's not flukes or fate... what happened was an outcome of decisions you consciously or unconsciously made. You decided to put the tools in the car. You decided to help Jeff. You could have told him to go away (I'm glad you didn't). If you had made a different decision at any of the decision points the outcome would have been different. Who know what would have happened?

I recall once years ago I was heading to an intersection, turning right, when the lights turned orange just as I was about cross the white line. If I accelerated through, I would have made it through or I still had enough time to stop. I just looked and decided it was too risky to proceed, so I stopped. There was a motorbike in front of me and the car in front of the rider suddenly braked, causing the motorbike rider to suddenly brake and stop. The motorbike rider stopped in the exact spot that I would have been if I had accelerated. If I had accelerated through, I would have hit the motorbike for sure. I don’t see it as lucky that I decided not to proceed. It was conscious decision to stop because I looked at the intersection and decided it was too risky to proceed.

Sometimes conincidences can get very interesting though. Years ago my whole family packed up and moved east, except my mum who stayed back in Perth working for another week. One night after work as she was driving into the driveway at home, she remembered that she had forgotten to buy bread on the way home from work. As she arrived at the doorstep there was a loaf of freshly baked bread sitting there. Someone from her church baked bread and took it around to people from the church. That the first time she came to our house though. I told her the story about how my mum forgot to buy bread and asked her why she came to our house on that day. She just said that when she was thinking about who to take the bread to, she though of my mum. Interesting coincidence but perhaps not inexplicable. She knew that we had all left and mum was on her own and maybe thought it would be nice for her to have some fresh bread.

 

Fate probably existed once upon a time when there were a few less gazillion humans on the planet, but there are so many of us now it's probably a bit tricky for the universe to engineer fateful events for each of us.

However it is certainly the case that that people will actively seek out friendships and help from people who present as friendly and demonstrate trustworthiness. (Folks don't deliberately rush up to people they are wary of begging for help, or try to create friendships with people that appear unfriendly or aggressive.) The friendly and trustworthy front is of course communicated via things like smiling, clean and tidy presentation, calm voices and behaviours, that sort of thing. No doubt, the chap at the petrol station has sought out help from someone that presented as a trustworthy and pleasant person.