Making definition is best left to the experts, but from what I’ve learned in Biochemistry class (;>), gene is defined as the basic unit of heredity. Genes are passed from generation to generation: parents to their children, and so on. Genes control the biochemical process in our body, their roles include producing enzymes that enabled the metabolism to determining our physical appearance such as the color of our eyes. Each species has different genes. That’s why human children looked like human, not like other species.
If destiny had a physical representation, it would probably take in the form as gene. Destiny is often considered as something that has been foreordained. Therefore, you can’t change them. That’s exactly the case for gene. For example, if the gene that controlled the production of insulin was damaged, the person would definitely suffer from diabetes; it can’t be changed.
You’re born with certain genes, inherited from your parents. You can’t change them. Even in the case of genetic engineering. In the case of the diabetic, for example, the damaged gene isn’t modified. Instead, the disease is “cured” by inserting the correct gene inside the body; not by correcting the damaged one. To make long things short, our genes had been determined before we’re born, just like “destiny” that had been foreordained.
Unfortunately, things aren’t as simple as that. It would be very naive to conclude that genes are the only ones responsible for all aspects in our life. Consider the case of someone who had an obesity problem. He happened to have unbalanced diet and never exercised. Would you blame it on his genes? I would surely not.
If something doesn’t work out right, we have nobody to blame but ourselves because our act in the past may bring unpleasant consequences at present. In other words, you get what you give. Thus, the term “free-will” and “free-act”.
Battle of thoughts between the fatalists (those who believe that destiny was foreordained) and their rival (those who believe in “free-will”, please kindly inform me if you know what they’re called :>) has been going on for years, even centuries. No need to worry though, because I don’t intend to join the faction and participate in their debate. Instead, I have a slightly different idea about the topic of human “destiny”.
Studying Pharmacy in college for the last four years, I’ve learned that regardless our fast-growing knowledge in health and medication, a lot of things remain as mysteries. It’s amazing how the cause of many diseases remain unknown. Hypertension, for example. I’ve just found out that ninety percents of hypertension cases are idiopathic, or in other words, have unidentifiable/unknown cause. Someone could be living a healthy life, not doing any “risky business”, but still catch the disease. There’s a good chance to find a hypertension patient with that kind of profile. It basically proves that life isn’t always going as planned, no matter how hard we try. On the other hand, submitting ourselves completely to the hands of "destiny" would be an irresponsible act indeed.
The conclusion is, trying as hard as we can is a must, but we should always realize that the end result doesn’t always correspond to the effort we’ve been working on. We’re all probably just destiny’s children, but the destiny has not been foreordained
