HOPE SMITH
editor-in-chief
hope.smith393@my.tccd.edu

I shake a Magic 8 Ball at my desk when I want a silly question answered that I already know the answer to. 

It’s helpful for a quick lunch decision and even more pleasing to see “Without a doubt” show up on the little blue screen when I get the greenlight for something I had already decided on.  

In fact, I shook the ball before writing this.  

“Outlook good,” it prophesized.  

The funny thing about it is the sheer insignificance of the 8 Ball. It has no motive. It is not wise. The world would not burst into flames if the 8 Ball disintegrated into a dust pile and no one could ever reach for it to know if their crush likes them.  

The concept of “the right time” is guided under the same principles an 8 Ball does for decision making. It is entirely up to chance. 

If the 8 Ball was omnipotent then maybe the world could benefit, but it is not. It is just plastic. When we put our trust in things that cannot – do not – understand our lives, we are opting out on opportunity because we let chance dictate.  

Chance is cheap because the fact of the matter is you know your answer. The fact you are thinking about it means you have an answer.  

This does not need to apply to cheap fortune teller tricks, but to everywhere else in a person’s life. Excuses need no limit on how to stall progress.  

This is why the importance of taking control of your life is so valuable. While the prospect of letting chance dictate the future feels less like a burden, it is destroying one’s own autonomy to truly decide what they want.  

If you did what you actually wanted – within reason – you might find that the fear you experienced before slowly dies out. It takes snuffing it out like a candle flame to know what it’s like to not be afraid of the future.  

I knew my answer without needing to consult fortune during so many crucial points in my life and I regret waiting for something to tell me I could have it, do it or say it. After it is said and done, all you can think about is what you could have done differently.  

Truthfully, you may never see the right time if you decide not to look for it. Sufi Poet Jalaluddin Rūmī once penned the phrase, “What you seek is seeking you.”  

This is the English translation of the original seven-century-old Persian text, but slight tweaks to the language depending on translation really does not change the meaning. It’s the idea that your own wants are not disconnected from you.  

In some ways, I have to believe the phrase could be true. You have to already know what you want, so chance deciding for you is going to sideline receiving what you want by opting for self-complacency.  

Waiting for something to happen after the stars align and the heavens open with a chorus of angels makes it all extraordinarily complex and worth more trouble than needed.   

If you are going to take anything as a sign, take this column. I cannot predict the future or make decisions for you, but if you are considering choosing for yourself instead of chance, my answer would be, “You may rely on it.”