Life is Funny

Here’s a dumb cliche for you.. “Everything happens for a reason.”

I say, “so? Your point is??” Usually the response is:

“Well it was obviously meant to be”

“It’s God’s will”

“God works in mysterious ways”

Now in this blog entry, I’m not attacking religion. What I am doing is pointing out how stupid cliche phrases really don’t carry much weight behind them. Why do we use them and depend on them so much?

Let’s look at some scenarios, and possible theories as to why it was “meant to be” or “God’s will”, or why “God is working in mysterious ways”.

Example #1: You are walking through the house and accidentally stub your toe into a coffee table leg.

Example #1 Reason: Stubbing your toe happened for a reason. Well yes, it did. You were clumsy and weren’t paying attention.

Example #1 God’s Involvement: It was God’s will that you stubbed your toe. He works in mysterious ways. Well that sounds bizarre. I can’t think of any possible reason why God would purposely setup events for you to stub your toe.

Maybe we need to add some descriptive language for these stupid cliche phrases to have them make more sense..

Let’s leave the correct phrase “everything happens for a reason” alone, because in some microscopic or technical way, yes, everything does happen for a reason. (Even “nothing” happens for a reason)

BUT!

Let’s change these:

“It was obviously meant to be” TO “Some things are meant to be”

“It was God’s will” TO “It may have been God’s will.”

“God works in mysterious ways” TO “We have no idea what God wants or what he does”

—————–

So this way, the next time something happens of significant value, where these cliche phrases come into play (other than stubbing your toe), it will sound like this:

Your uncle dies…

Someone comes up to you says “Sorry for your loss, everything happens for a reason”

You say “I know, his health gave out, but why him?”

To which they say “Some things were meant to be”

You say “I know, but was this one of them? Perhaps he was just old and sick”

To which they say “It may have been God’s will”

You say “Maybe, I guess we really won’t know if God wanted this, or if it was just a physical limitation of our natural cycle as human beings”

To which they say “We have no idea what God wants or what he does”

You say “that’s right. So can we stop with the stupid cliche phrases and just deal with the fact that my sick elderly uncle died, and anything you say won’t change it? You can give theories and hypothesis all day long about why it happened — the fact is that it happened, and cliche phrases don’t solve anything.”

Why do people feel that stupid cliche phrases fix things? They don’t. They are wasted breath and carry little value.

Let’s just stop using them. Why carry them through generation to generation? Some of these exist the same way dumb internet chain emails recirculate for years and years..

It’s not a bad thing to take a moment, look at ourselves and realize HOW LIFE IS FUNNY and how stupid we are for participating in the same thing that everyone else falls victim to..

Stop stupid cliche phrases! They are just a waste of time.

So the next time someone says “Everything happens for a reason“, return the comment “You’re right, and stating the obvious helps whom?”

BTW, it may seem that writing this blog entry I’m over exaggerating, or stretching the concept too much to prove a point. The reality is, that I’m addressing a significant problem with stupid cliche phrases that are used everyday, by hundreds of thousands of people, and very little thought is given to it.

Then again, maybe I did this because:

1. Everything happens for a reason

2. It was obviously meant to be

3. It is God’s will

4. God works in mysterious ways.

AHA! GOTCHA!