Monday, November 9, 2009

Why?

Using an example from class (thanks, Sam), consider this: A bus with 20 people crashes. Only 1 person survives. Why? Feel free to disagree with one another. If you are going to agree with someone, you need to add something and not simply repeat his or her words.

19 comments:

Emily said...

When a bus crashes and only one survives, there is a reason for this. That one person that survived had the reason to live. Fate made this one person keep their life. Of course there are scientific reasons for the one living person and for the other nineteen that didn't survive. But this one person had the fate to live. Maybe he/she hadn't accomplished something that they needed to, or maybe they were ment to live on to old age.
Everyone has a reason to live, and when the one person survives, they're reason to live wasn't yet developed or discovered, so they deserve to keep living. It's not that the other nineteen people were not ment to live. Maybe they already had their fare share of success and decided to let it go. But those nineteen didn't deserve to die, they just didn't get the luck that the one person had.
The one person's luck took over them when the other nineteen died. Being one of many people to survive in this takes luck, along with fate. The luck that they're granted clearly changed their lives as they live on doing what they wish. But overall, fate and luck are the two reasons the one surviver had when the bus crashed.

cswift said...

Some people believe that everything happens for a reason, but i think that we make reasons for everything that happens. If there is a bus with 20 people that crashes and only one person survives, this could be fate, destiny, or any other possibility. No one will ever know exactly know why it happened that way. You can always make reasons for something to happen a certain way.

Many people like to think that everything happens for a reason so that you can learn from your mistakes. If you never have a second chance with something, at least you had the opportunity to figure out what you did wrong and know to never do it again. In this situation, the mistake could be anything. It could be from another bus crashing into this bus. No matter what it was, there is no going back. You can not change time no matter how much you wish you could. If everyone could go back and change things, there wouldn't be anything to fix. No one would have the strength to move forward because everything would be too easy to get through.

Opportunities are everywhere. When one person survives and nineteen die, that one person has a role in his/her life. They may be there to send a message to other people or do something they have always wanted to do. When something like this happens you learn to appreciate the life you have and not take everything for granted. If everyone could explain why everything happens, there would be no questions. Reasons are everywhere, but the ones that are wanted to most are unseen.

EYanowitz said...

A bus with 20 people on it crashes, leaving but one person alive. Many people assume that the person was fated to live, others think that person had something left to do in their life. I disagree with the aforementioned proposals. That one person lived entirely because of chance. Maybe he was the only one that wore his seat belt. It is possible that bent metal from the impact protected him from flying shrapnel, or he could have been wearing a helmet because he was a weird person that does that on buses. He didn't live to pass on his helmet wearing techniques, he didn't live for any reason other than pure, unbiased chance. Yet the question still remains as to why people often think every person has a destiny, or a life controlled by fate.

The answer has to do with how the unnaturally intelligent human mind works. Just as a child that eats one piece of cake wants another, knowledge is addicting for humans. Once we were able to explain somethings scientifically (whether we knew it was science or not), we craved to do so again, for we found pleasure in knowledge. Though humans often came to a dilemma; they couldn't always find an immediate reason for something that happened. Whenever this happened, people would use magic, fate, or religion as an answer. People felt lost and scared if there weren't reasons for things. People wanted to think their lives had a purpose, so they came up with the idea of fate and destiny. If people found out you really could get killed in a car crash at anytime, for no reason, than they would be scared. Thinking that every life has a purpose, and that you can't die until that purpose is fulfilled comforts people.

bservodidio said...

there so many anwsers to this question that there is really no where to begin. first, out decision about why that person lived or died is determined by so many factors. some of those factors include how we are raised, what our religion is, and what we ourselves truly believe in. my personal response to this question is one of two things. first, my religion tells me that god saved me and i should thank him (christian). also, i am a stronger in fate, and that everything happens for a reason. and i lived because someone didnt want me to die, weather it was fate or god, nobody will ever know.

shuber said...

As many people may believe, everything happens for a reason. Using the example that a bus with 20 people crashes, and only 1 person survives can mean something different to everyone.

In my opinion, if only one person survives and the other 19 people on the bus died in the crash, then it is simply fate that kept them alive. It could have been luck but there just seems to be more to it. That one person must have a reason to live. Maybe it wasn't their time to die yet. That one person was given another chance in life to do the things that they need to get done. Sure, people could have a whole investigation and experiment on how this happened and come up with reasons that that person was still living. However, there always seems to be a deeper reason. Something about fate or destiny, or anything, just makes us believe that they were meant to live for something. It doesn't matter what that reason is, but it's just how it is.

Sasha said...

When one out of twenty people survive a deadly bus crash, it could be due entirely to chance. It could be due to bent metal, or a seatbelt, or he could be one of the weird people who wears his helmet on the bus [thanks eric :) ]. And i believe that, to a certain extent, but i think that if that metal or the seatbelt or the helmet protected the person from harms way, couldn't that be due to fate too? If the bus crashed into an overpass that sheared off the top of the roof, and it came down in such a way that protected one solitary person from being violently and graphically killed, then what made the roof come down like that? Was it the weight of the roof? Or was it fate controlling the falling of it? This is, of course, just my opinion, and feel free to disagree, but i do believe that there is something, or someone, that has a preplanned course for us, and if it is our time to die, then so be it. But if you do manage to survive the deadly aforementioned bus crash, then there is something that is keeping you from death, and you cant leave without completing it.

Rachel P. said...

A bus crashes and one person survives. In my opinion, there IS a reason for this but it's not because that specific person has something they need to go on and accomplish. If there were 20 people on that bus, I doubt that all except one had done everything they needed to do in life and were ready to die. What if there were children? Or someone getting married the next day? Like Emily said, everyone has a reason to live. None of the people on that bus deserved to die, so why did they? My guess, is circumstance. When everyone got on that bus they just chose a seat and sat down. But what if one person got on and sat in the third seat, the only seat that didn't get as hard of a blow when the bus crashed. I don't think it was fate that caused them to choose that seat. But it coincidentally was the person who survived. It happened by chance, and chance alone.

galfieri said...

Using the example "a bus with 20 people crashes and only one person survives", I think that this happens all due to chance. I don't agree with the fact that things happen for a reason, I think it has more to do with luck. As humans we want to believe that things happen for a reason, like we are destined to do something and have a purpose in life. That one person was probably at the right place during the crash. I guess I just believe more in the scientific evidence than I do with the idea of fate.
I don't necessarily agree with Emily and others when they say that everyone has a reason to live, and the one person that survived is meant to live and fulfill something important. We just like to believe that that is why that one person lived and the others did not.
Also, the answer to this question depends upon the kind of person you are. I'm not a huge believer in fate and destiny but more so the facts of why things happen the way they do. Some people believe that things happen for a reason and others believe that things happen due to chance and scientific facts. The many different views is what makes this question so difficult to answer.

icalo said...

Why? Why did only one person survive? Why did that one person survive? Was the person lucky or was it fate?

Many people will ask these questions and others will answer it, but the true answer is because it was meant to be. It might sound like luck that the bus rider that survived bought that specific bus seat. It also might sound like luck that he was in that seat when the bus crashed. They could have crashed 10 seconds later band the bus would have been in a different position and maybe that one survivor would have died and someone else would have survived. This had to be fate; there is no luck that can save you from death. God might have needed that one survivor stay on this earth for a certain reason; maybe he still had something to accomplish. There is a reason for everything and there was a reason that the person survived when the other nineteen died.

pruvane said...

The destiny of the twenty people on the bus lay completely outside of their own hands, and had been guided by someone else. This does not necessarily mean some god or omniscient being is controlling them, what I mean is that another person has caused this. Everyone wants to make a logical explanation as to why things happen, because people do not like to think that there are things that cannot be controlled. If a bus containing twenty people crashes, and only one survives, why did that one live while others perished? People want to waffle around the idea of other people having a complete influence on their lives by thinking of incidences such as these deaths through mathematical reason. Although all the science behind it is true, but they are missing the point. There is always one person responsible for a calamity. That person could be someone who sabotaged the bus, or ignorantly didn't fix some kink with it. Fate doesn't have much to do with the lives of the twenty people on the bus, it's rather the fruits of another persons folly. As for that ones persons survival, he or she most likely had more of a will to live or a rabbit's foot.

CConklin said...

Some people may believe that in a scenario like this, the one person that survived through the crash survived for a reason. Yes, later on in that person's life they could have done something great and everyone else would believe that was their reason for surving through the crash. However, i believe that anyone else could have gone on in life and do something great, that one person was unfortunately the only lucky one to survive. The reason for their survival was based purely on science. Like Sam had said in class, they could have survived because of the way they were sitting verses the impact of the crash. It's unfortunate to say, but things like this happen quite frequently, and I do not believe that the one or few people who survive these accidents were kept on earth for any real reason. We all have an important purpose in life, but in cases like these, some people are just less lucky than others.

Anonymous said...

If a bus crashed and only one person out of twenty lived, there was a reason. Everyone's lives are already planned out from the day they are born. It may just be that in that one person's life they were going to get in a car crash, but they were going to be able to survive because there was a reason that they were meant to live at least one more day on this planet. It is pure fate. Yes, people can say that that one person survived because of the way there were sitting, but fate decided the way that they were going to sit when they got on that bus.
It could have been that they survived because another car crashed into the opposite side of where they were sitting, but the car crashed into that one side because fate chose it to happen that way. The reason is that the one person needed to live longer. Everyone's lives are planned out already, so if something happens to you and you ask yourself why am I still alive? The answer is you are still alive because that was not the way you were meant to die. That was not the time you were meant to die, or the place, or the way to die. We were all put on this Earth for a reason, and we will all be taken off for a reason, but everyone has a different time to go, and on that bus ride, it was not the survivors time to go. Fate has decided when and where you will die. Everyting happens for a reason, and maybe the reason that the one person did not die was because they had to do something before they die, or it just was not their time to go. You can not fight fate, whatever happens, happens.

kpersau said...

If a bus of 20 people crashes, and only 1 person survives, there are three groups of people that would emerge from this conflict. There would be the scientist, who would try to find a logical explanation to the occurrence. There would be the people who don’t care and just go on with their normal lives. And there would be the people who would think it to be a work of God or whoever they believe in religiously. The scientists would say that it had to do with the trajectory of the impact, or the way the person was sitting. The religious would say that God wanted them to live, that they have a further purpose in life. And the third group would say, “Who cares?” The reason to this predicament depends on how you look at life, and what you believe in.

mparker said...

There is a bus crash, one survives and nineteen die. Many would ask why, and turn to scientific reasoning. But what if the reasoning shows that the one person should not have survived? I truly believe it is fate and there is a reason for it. Maybe the person wasn’t a doctor, or an important lawyer, but maybe later on they will stop a kid from crossing a street as a car goes by; saving their life. Maybe the person would say hi to a friend considering suicide, and the hello stops them from it.
Personally I agree more with the reason that “everything happens for a reason” more then scientific reasoning. Also, it could have had something to do with luck. I don’t really agree with that as much as the other reasoning of everything happens for a reason, but luck could have something to do with it. Also, what if there is no scientific reasoning to explain why the one person has survived, then it has to be in the hands of fate. What I believe is that everything happens for a reason, and even if the reason is unknown, the person had an important thing to do before he/she left the earth.

SBedrosian said...

If a bus of 20 people crashes and 1 person survives there are several reasons for it. In today's society everything is backed up with math and science. You can give an explanation for the one survivor such as the position of the survivors body, where he/she was sitting, and the impact in that specific location. But in Ancient Greek times (if they had buses) this would be explained simply by the fact that the survivor has a farther calling and is destined to live because he/she had not fulfilled their destiny. The survivor must have had unfinished business on Earth and could not move on because it was not their time to go. Some people today still believe this, as do I. There are reasons for why people live and why people die. Death does not come for everyone who is dying. Death only comes for those that are meant to die. If it is not your time, you will not die. The one survivor could have been the person that would discover something that could change our world or help save another life that was also meant to do something great. People live maybe not to accomplish something great in the grand scheme of the universe themselves but to help someone else that has that destiny.

Kmichaluk said...

In circumstances when there is a great number of death and only one or a few survivors there is always the question of why those specific people lived and the others didn't. I don't think that anyone can answer that question and no for sure that they have the right answer. This is because there are too many possibilites. There is the option of fate that says that that person was meant to live because they haven't finished something on earth that they need to. The other option is more scientific. It would say that the reason that one person lived is based on measurements and calculations about where that person was sitting and the impact of the crash. That theory can be tested and proved, but whose to say that fate is or isn't an option?

ajustl said...

Everything can be explained by a series of calculations and experiments. Statistically, there is a "safest seat on the bus".
This theroretical seat may have been chosen by the one survivor because they are severely paranoid about busses and looked up the safest seat for a reasurance. But, since that is not likely, this individual may have randomly picked the seat. They were not "placed there by a higher power". There is a long chain of cause and effect that led the survivor to this one bus at this one time and to this one seat.
There are so many possible explinations for this theroretical event that figuring them all out would take a life time. The bus may go by a hospital, so half of the people on it were just released in a recovery state. In my opinion fate controlls a minisquel, if any, percent of all events that happen. If fate is the explanation, then science hasn't developed the technology to explain the occurance.

Emma said...

In the case of a bus crashing holding 20 people and only one surviving, there can be many responses for why it happened. There can be the scientific reasons from exact measurements and the person's placement on the bus. On the other hand, that does now necessarily answer the question of why this one person, from all the other 20, lived on. As some of my classmates have mentioned, there are reasons that are much more spiritual and meaningful than shrugging and saying that it just happened for no apparent special reason. However, it's a much more comforting thought to believe that things in this world can be explained and that everything has it's own reasons. The one I personally believe in most is the idea that it needed to happen so that other things can lead afterwards. I highly regard the idea of things happening like a row of dominoes and from the one survival out of all the others, something more is meant to happen to that person or to come from that person living on. This can be debated and many other ideas pointed out by my peers have just as much reasoning.

NJacobson said...

A bus with twenty people crashes and only one person survives. People believe this is because of fate or chance. Personally, I think it is because of chance. It is by pure chance that the one person purchased a ticket for that exact seat. Yes, fate might tie in later in that persons life, for example, something good might happen to them. But again, that is coincidence or chance.

You or me could have purchased that exact seat on the bus and lived in the deadly crash. That shows that it was pure chance. There is always scientific explanations that make sense and are proven.

I agree with Grace that everyone wants to believe they have a fate or destiny, but the reality is, not everyone does. Also, as Grace mentioned I, as well, am a kind of person who likes to have exact answers of why something happened and how, when, etc.