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Making God Laugh – By @TarunChandy

By Tarun Chandy

 

Making God Laugh

 

A few weeks ago, we were asked to reflect on two things. If we were given the chance, what advice would we give to our past selves, and what promises would we make to ourselves in the future. A potentially simple question, that as usual I completely overanalyzed. After much deliberation, I said I wouldn’t tell my past self to do a thing differently, or make any plans for improvement in the future. This is despite my complete acknowledgement that I have a lot I could stand to improve on. And that on most days I have about as much control over my life as a man on death row. I know myself rather well and I am fairly certain that if I was ever given a time machine, I wouldn’t be traveling to another year just to visit myself. I might instead take the opportunity to be a part of a couple of historic assassinations.

 

My opinion on this prompt stems directly from my longstanding opposition to the practice of plan-making. The world I live in has always been one of fantasy and flexibility. I’ve believed in this for so long I don’t think I’ve ever even made a New Years Resolution. But the question stuck in the back of my mind over the mid term break. A few moments arose that made me consider whether a little structure might be in my best interest. There’s no doubt that there’d have been a lot less chaos in my life over the last few weeks, not to mention the last several years, if I’d played a more active role in controlling the outcome of my own life.

 

Here’s why I’m still reluctant to change. There’s an old saying; if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. I’ve always been a firm believer in God. And I think that statement kind of summarizes his personality. You see, God isn’t all bad. Sometimes he giveth and sometimes he taketh away. But you can be sure that if you ever spend too long planning out your future, he’ll flex his almighty muscles and pull the rug out from under you. It’s his way of showing you who’s really in control.

 

But my inhibition to planning isn’t a mere surrender to the forces of the universe, allowing them to shape my destiny while I sit idly by. It’s more of a battle strategy in a war I can’t control. I trust myself to handle life as it comes, when it comes. And yes, there are moments almost every day of my life where this strategy backfires magnificently. But I stand by it. Because life will always have its ups and downs. But the ups will always be far more rewarding when you haven’t planned for them. And the downs will be far more gut wrenching when you were planning for an up instead.

 

So I’ll keep thriving in the chaos, hoping for the best and adapting as best as I can. And may God never laugh again.

 

 

The copy scores 75.1 in the Flesch Reading Ease test

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