Does Everything Really Happen For a Reason?

Does everything really happen for a reason? I know I've found myself proclaiming that it does, but really? The term "everything", after all, is a pretty big umbrella. What about spilling coffee all over your desk? What is the reason for that? How about your shoe laces being untied and having to stop to retie them? What's the big plan behind that?

Nothing, I guess. So let's say "everything" doesn't really mean everything, but instead everything that disappoints, confuses, frustrates, depresses or angers you. Those are usually the things we usually question anyway. No one says "Wow, I found this crisp five dollar bill on the floor! Why, oh why, did this happen to me?"

I'm trying to decide if we say everything happens for a reason to make ourselves feel better, or because it's true. I know there are many instances in my life where I eventually got to a point in a situation where I said to myself "Oh -- now I get it! That's why xyz happened three years ago, because if it didn't, I wouldn't be in situation abc right now. Cool. I'm with you now, all knowing Universe."

But lately, I'm thinking some times, not all the time of course, but some times, things do just happen because they happen. Which, even as I type, I don't like. Thinking everything happens for a reason is a very comforting thought. What's comforting about randomness? I like things nailed down. I'd carry a hammer around with me if I could, just for that very reason. Or would I...?

Random thoughts can be cool. I don't even now how a random number generator works, but how cool is that (I know, I'm letting my inner nerd out). The shuffle feature on your ipod is cool. Who would think Elton John's Sacrifice immediately after Slim Shady would make for good work out music? Not me, but there you go.

Okay, it's not even 8:30am yet and I'm only half way through my coffee. I will not solve this mystery today. In the words of Scarlet O'Hara "after all, tomorrow is another day."