Why are we here? That is a question that has boggled mankind for centuries. Is it for some overall greater purpose? Or is it simply a matter of individuality?

Does one individual account for his or her own single purpose? For example, the person standing right next to you might be here to discover the cure for AIDS, while the person to the other side of you might be destined to be the next President of the United States. Then again, he could end up being a murder victim, or a murderer himself.

To believe in all of these, however, you must subscribe to some sort of fate theory, in which a person has no control at all in what happens to him or her on a day-to-day basis. The only thing separating us from a life of fortune and money and a life of garbage can dinners and cardboard palaces is some sort of destiny chosen for us by some higher being? That is just a little farfetched.

Man has control over his/her life, and you see it every day. Joe might go out and kill someone tonight. Was it because “God” had a special plan for Joe? No. It was because Joe wanted to kill someone, and he made that decision alone. If God really did love us all, then why would he/she purposely create beings to kill their own kind, and other kinds surrounding it? Is it because of some brilliant master plan to weed out the bad seeds of society so it can prosper for a generation? If it was, then why not make the murderers the ones we kill, not the innocent people that sometimes do get killed. Once again, fate is a question here. Why did the old man in the big Cadillac choose to go down a certain road and accidentally put himself in the path of the drive-by shooter, or in the path of the drunk driver? Why did the drunk driver go down the road exactly when he did? Once again, a question of fate and destiny.

I hear a lot of people, the majority of which are strong believers in some level of faith, say the following. “God’s plan for (insert name here).” So God has a set plan for everyone, which cannot be changed at all? That in itself is hard to fathom. Suppose “God” has a plan for you. Is there any way to change it? Suppose you run to the corner store to get a loaf of bread. Did fate bring you to the certain store? Or was it a matter of your own choosing, your own decision?

Religion is a touchy issue for most people to delve into and discuss thoroughly. There is a very large number of people whom, when asked to discuss this topic, would say: “This is what the Lord has set for me as a lifelong plan of actions, and I shall obey Him/Her.” Now, unfortunately, this sounds somewhat cult-like in its meaning. I do not believe that the Lord had a cult in mind when he/she came up with the ideas and basis of religion.

Believe it or not, I really do not think that “God” wanted to have worshippers or followers. To really fully understand faith, it is not a question of following everything your “god” said, but rather the beliefs that define a certain religion, and more importantly, your personal beliefs, not some beliefs you follow just because your pastor stands up in front of you and tells you things. Heck, I could stand up in front of a church, and tell them certain things, and get them to believe me, because some people are just too gullible.

Religion and religious beliefs and values are not based solely on whatever the “higher power” says. True religion is based on the actual beliefs of the person. Another major problem with today’s society is that many religious people let religion decide their fate and destiny. In talking with someone, who is a personal friend, I discovered his point of view. He told me, “If you do not get saved, you will go to Hell.” So, in essence, he told me that simply because of a person’s religious beliefs, you would be damned to Hell if you didn’t believe what his religion had told him. It is also looked upon as some sort of caste-style system, in which the people who do believe in a higher power are better citizens of this society than those who choose not to believe, or those who choose to believe in something else. So, in their eyes at least, fate is decided simply by religion.

So, are we all here for some small individual purpose? Or is life on a much larger scale than that? Are we here to put our minds and theories together to create an ultimate goal and purpose? That is the ultimate question for everyone to ponder.