Serendipity?

First I got part of my fringe burnt by doing a stupid act of trying to light a ciggie from a stove last night (and had to spend like halfa painstakingly snipping off the burnt strands delicately) and today, my fresh piercing (below the lower lip) dropped out while I was having a coffee and I was bleeding like a slaughtered pig in the middle of Lygon Street. Is it one of those (or two of those rather) days that I could rule off as just plain unlucky? In any case, being the cynical bastard that I am, am I s’pose to even believe in luck, fate and all that in the first place?

Which leads me to readdress the recurring thought that I’ve been having (and discussing with friends) lately, that is, are the people we meet in life depicted by fate or is it simply a matter of choice? When I say a matter choice, I mean if we are making a conscious effort (or subconscious effort even) to choose who we want to meet or what sort of friends we want to keep close to us? For me, almost all the friends I have are some sort of twisted (not necessarily in a bad way), possessed a warped sense of humour, less-than-homely, and hardly conformists to society in a way. I have to say I’m not complaining though, I wouldn’t have swapped my current friends for anything in the world really. It’s just a thought that I’ve been pondering, that’s all. Is it because of fate that I meet a certain person? Or is it my character or lifestyle that has led me to meet and know a particular person? What would have changed if I haven’t? Is the eventual development to what or who I am today due to the people I have known?

People come and go throughout the course of our life and on that note, some are good and some are of course, people whom we wish we’ll never have to entertain again. However, are we always sensible and level-headed enough to differentiate the good from the bad? Even if we have identified that someone is having a negative impact on our lives (be it in a relationship or someone who always puts you down, zaps away your confidence, kills the fun or something), will we be able to walk away from him/her? What if we keep going back to the one person whom we need to walk away from? (Incidentally, two of my friends, identities witheld like they do in doco to protect their privacy, just confided in me last week that they are caught up in such a situation.

I s’pose everyone goes through thoughts or experiences like these, and I’m no exception either. In fact, I don’t deny I wish I’m strong enough to walk away from some people, so that I wouldn’t be hanging around and making compromises and in the midst of doing so, losing a bit of myself each time and retarding my progress in moving on with my life. Do I have to hate that person (yes, I still think hate is too severe and ugly a word) before I can turn my back on him/her totally? If this is the case, what does the person have to do for me to develop the hatred? Afterall, it sure takes a lot before I can hate someone. Detest and despise, yes. But hate, I don’t think so.