In fact, until recently, even I thought that the position I am at is all because of a BIG accident called 'Campus Recruitment'. I still remember those days, when my knowledge of the world outside the college campus was limited to say the least. I was a student of Mechanical engineering having just completed the 3rd year. That's when the thing hit the campus and suddenly even without having a degree to show, people were getting recruited. Year 1998-99 was the year of the IT. The first few companies to hit our campus were Software cos. Out of curiosity and because of lack of any firm opinion about future; I started appearing for the aptitude tests for these companies. It was all well till that moment, as I was not clearing these tests, forget about the other stuff like GD and Personal Interviews. What I did not realize then was that I was about to clear one of these tests on one of these days.
I promptly did and went on to pass the interview and was offered a position in a famous IT company. The rule on our campus at that time was once you get an offer, you are not allowed to appear for any other interviews. As I watched, the flood of IT cos slowly receded and the mechanical industries started visiting the campus. Here I was, a Mechanical engineer, all set to join an IT firm. A mechanical engineer with no job, once out of campus was as good as jobless those days. So I did not have the choice but to join the IT co. A year later, under the looming shadow of getting assigned to a Y2K project, I joined the company. Was it a stroke of shear luck that the Oracle Consulting department of that company had 6 vacant positions and that I was one of the six to join that group? Since then all has been well. I mean I went on to become an Oracle DBA and to enjoy the benefits that come with it. All accident it would seem.
But my view has changed now, or so I would like to think, after reading a book a few years back. During this chat I had with my friend, I kept saying that we choose what we want to be, but couldn't bring out the exact words. So I went back home and started re-reading that book, when I stopped at what I was looking for. The name of the book is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, the inventor of Logotherapy.
Pan-determinism was what I was looking for. Frankl says:
"...However, there is something which seems to me to be an even more erroneous and dangerous assumption, namely, that which I call 'pan-determinism.' By that I mean the view of man which disregards his capacity to take a stand toward any conditions whatsoever...."
I felt, when reading it for the first time that "taking a stand toward any conditions" were the key words in the statement. Going back to campus interview days, one of my very close friends did not appear for these interviews and we were all wondering what was happening to him. Then, when it was turn of the mechanical industry to visit our campus, he started appearing for each and every interview, ultimately getting selected in one. Now it clicked. Taking a stand.
Further, Frankl in his critique of pan-determinism says:
"...Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them. In other words, man is ultimately self-determining. Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment...."
That makes sense. I had a choice to take a stand. I did not due to various reasons, ignorance being one of them. But I think I have learned from this. Now I know I have choices and what ever happens to me will be because of me, not because of series of small or big accidents. As Frankl says "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
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