Ever Wonder?

Have you ever seen the Disney movie Hercules? For awhile back in the late 90's it was my kid's favorite movie and I think we watched it daily. In the movie there are The 3 Fates, (sisters who in typical Disney style are old crones in the vein of the evil Queen in Snow White or Cruella de Vil), the Fates determine when a mortal will die and share 1 eye which they use to see into the future. I remember reading about the Greek Fates back in high school English class and was intrigued about someone having control over my destiny. Every day I read in the news about random violence, health problems and freakish accidents and I wonder, "Does it make any difference if I lead a good life, stay healthy, be cautious and see my doctor? Will The Fates cut my life cord or will bad luck, wrong place-wrong time or some psychopath do it for them?"
Last year there was a horrific crime in the county where my parents live in Florida. Truly anyone's worst nightmare come to life. A beautiful young mother and wife, abducted from her home in the middle of the day, driven around while she screamed in the car, witnessed by people who called 911, then raped and killed and tossed in a shallow grave. Nothing saved her, not her pleading on the phone to a 911 operator while she was in the abductor's car, not the clues she left behind like the ring she stuck under the seat with pieces of her hair for DNA, not her police man father who was searching for her, not the pleas of her husband. Her life cord was cut. After reading this week about the trial of her killer, who the authorities found after his own family called in to report he had kidnapped the young woman, Fate has been on my mind. It keeps me up at night. Wondering, worrying...Sure another tragic story will pop up in the headlines soon enough and the cycle of Fate or wrong place-wrong time will happen again. I guess it's what you do with your life that matters in the end. I'll continue to eat well, love, learn, travel, explore, share, give, and be cautious and hope that the old crones or some psychopath don't cut my life cord. And I'll remember that young woman in Florida and take comfort in the meaning her short life is having long after her cord was cut.