serendipity

Sometimes I can't help but feel that life is too fantastic to be an accident. When looking at it out of its context, our lives are composed of small, meaningless events, like single notes in a song. But we stumble on something, completely by accident, and then suddenly it swells and becomes the most meaningful part of our lives. And there was no predicting that, or forcing it, either. There are too many cliched metaphors for this, from a snowball to an avalanche, a butterfly to a tornado, and so on.

Like if I think about how I've met the people I know, and how they came to be a big part of my life, it was rarely ever an intentional process, at least at first. Every friend was a happy accident.

Like any scientific discovery, the most important moments of our lives are out of our control. (Or have you ever wondered how people discovered edible foods, spices, fire, and how to cook? etc etc. talk about serendipity!)

I met this one guy, let's call him Mark, my first week at UCLA. I was just sitting in the dining hall, eating by myself, and this guy asks if he can join me. We talk and realize that we have some stuff in common- he's full Syrian, I'm half. And so on. It was really cool of him to take the initiative but at the time I didn't think much of it. But every time after that, when we saw each other walking from class, we would say hi.

I didn't see this guy for 2 years, and then I added the math major. Turns out he's a math major too, and by then he had decided to be a doctor. He had worked in Haiti (before the earthquake) and the experience inspired him to be a doctor. It was crazy to see how, from the start, neither of us really had anything to live for, in the purest sense, but 3 years later, somehow both of us had discovered who we wanted to be.

He graduated this past quarter. It was cool talking to him about what he wanted to do and where he was headed, because we both realized just how much college affected us, and how surprising the effect.

It got me thinking about how everyone has this thing that they want to do to make the world a better place. Well, maybe not everyone. But I've definitely met a lot of people at UCLA that want to change the world, and everyone has a slightly different take on what to do. Education reform, science, being a doctor, artist, what have you, it's really amazing how many people have passion.

Will this passion have an impact? I'm not sure... look at the '60s. The ideals of that era remain only in pop culture and maybe some parts of Venice Beach and San Francisco. If we compare our generation to that one we are definitely more tame... so who is to say that we will put up the necessary fight to produce meaningful positive change.

I know college is a bubble, but I'll really miss this environment...it's definitely an inspiring place.