F is for Fortune

'We should manage our fortune as we do our health; enjoy it when good, be patient when it is bad, and never apply violent remedies except in an extreme necessity' (Francois de la Rochefoucauld, French classical author, 1613-1680)

Fortune as told by the Oxford Dictionary:
noun
1. A large amount of money or assets
2. Chance as an arbitrary force affecting human affairs
3. Luck, especially good luck
4. The success or failure of a person or enterprise over a period of time

With so many ways of defining the word, is it any wonder we seem to have lost the true value behind it? Fortune. In a world where the brave remain the brave, the fearful remain the fearful and the homeless most certainly remain the homeless, I can't help but wonder; where does fortune lie? Does it still have a place in our ever-demanding lives? Or are we happy to just leave our fortunes residing in a cookie at the local Chinese?

I recently asked several good friends what the idea of fortune meant to them. Their responses were, admittedly, somewhat predictable; the students answered money, the loved-up answered family, and the corporate straights answered success. What wasn't so predictable was one last response. 'Fortune? Well that's just fate, isn't it?'

This got me thinking; where does fortune stop and fate begin? And how is it that we can discern between the two? Fate, that somewhat disheartening idea that we hold absolutely no responsibility for the path our life takes; that it's all pre-destined, pre-determined, written in the stars. Surely this is where the boundaries between Fate and Fortune have no option but to merge and become one; having good fortune has to come hand-in-hand with good fate. Doesn't it?

To accept fortune as that inevitable factor of life that we can neither change nor increase is, undeniably, a challenge. Every day we see those around us reaching better things, becoming accustomed to a better way of life. And every day we are forced to face up to the fact that there will always be some one just that little bit more successful than you. But even if the act of challenging our fortune is just as impossible as that of changing our fate, should this stop us from reaching a stage that we can truly sit back and say 'Yes. I am happy. I am where I want to be'. Should we rely so much on fate, on fortune, on an idea, a whim? Or is it time that we took back control of our own lives, and accept that maybe, just maybe, where we are now, we are at our most fortunate?