The question of fate

I am watching "Serendipity" starring the every so lovely John Cusack and the equally lovely Kate Backinsale. This whole post is a spoiler so don't read it unless you have already seen the movie.

It is a small romantic comedy. It starts simply. A chance encounter: boy meets girl. There is a spark and then the complications set in. She has a boyfriend. He has a girlfriend. So despite the obvious attraction and the clear connection nothing can come of it. But a series of coincidences on that day keep bringing them back together. Should they give love a chance?

She believes in fate, in destiny. She believes that the universe leaves you clues that if followed will lead you to a happier life. She throw the decision to chance. She writes her number in a book that she sells to a used book store. He writes his number on a 5 dollar bill and buys something. And then they try a second time. Each takes a different elevator and randomly pushes a button. If they end up on the same floor, it was meant to be now. They push the same button. She doesn't wait long enough and he is delayed. so they part.

Years pass and they each get engaged to other people. But cannot shake the memory or the feeling that maybe they are making a mistake.

Here the film transitions into a Sleepless in Seattle thing. Where the movie is not a love story but more a story about two people who are longing for love. True love. They each decide to try to seek each other out. We are tortured by their close calls, their near misses. Every obstacle and misunderstanding that keeps them apart wrings us harder for knowing how close they really were.

This goes on and on until. Each of them decides to break their engagement. This is the key. They let go of what they have and admit that there is more that they want. They believe that they will never find each other, still they decide to settle for no less than their hearts desire. They take that chance. And with this act of courage, of leaping into the great unknown, this is when at last - chance brings them together.

It's a romance. Romance is all about destiny, about finding the one person in the whole world. In fiction nothing is a coincidence. Everything happens for a reason. Everyone who shows up in the story has the opportunity to bend the story in one or another direction.

Reality, life is something else entirely.

So the question is: Do you believe in fate? In Destiny?