Who is in charge here?

Here's a random thought for a Sunday morning - who is in charge here? As with many questions, where you put the emphasis when asking it can change the whole way it is taken - WHO is in charge here? Who is in charge here? Who ? is in charge here? But I digress, it really is about the who after all? And this is a question that works on lots of levels - it can be asked of a family, business, government agency (but please don't - you might have to fill out 12 forms in triplicate just to never get an answer!), a country, or on the most personal level - of a life. When we're children from 1 to about 5 the answer is simple - our parents, or anyone bigger and older than us...which at the time seemed to be the majority of the population of the world. As we begin to step away from the nuclear family and start school, the authority shifts, Mon-Fri from 9 to 3 the authority is clear - teachers, principals, school nurse, playground monitors, hall monitors, lunch room ladies.....you get the idea. When we returned home - that authority shifted back to Mom, Dad, and your pesky older siblings. When we finally truly start questioning the validity of the authority of all these people, ahhh, that's when we think it finally gets interesting. Haha, they all have feet of clay, I teenager extraordinare I am in charge here!! I decide my own destiny, am captain of my fate....and to an extent we are. Particularly if we make some really bonehead decision and fall to peer pressure and try shoplifting, drugs, drinking, driving recklessly...whatever...we can be paying the price for years to come for that....
But it finally comes to us, much later, that we really have no control at all over our lives. This is the point where we finally grapple with the big question - IS THERE SOMEONE(THING) IN CHARGE? It all comes back to change, planning, and life - and where you stand on that big question.
Me, I believe now, (NOTE: I didn't believe this when I thought I was in charge for years and went through life blundering around, making dumb decisions and thinking I was in charge!) that yes, there is a higher power in charge. Call him, her or it whatever you (or your particular culture) like. I just know, that when I fought the idea and thought I was in charge, my life seemed to spin ever more furiously out of control. Now, I know, I'm NOT in charge....well at least not in the largest sense. I truly believe that the answers are within us - that if we listen to our gut instinct, that little voice in our head, and if we acknowledge that we can't control life and hand over the reins to that higher power - that it is then that life finally starts to make sense. Not always, but at least some of the time. It is then that we finally can concentrate on doing what's right for the greater good, instead of on what we think is right just for us.
OK, this could be a tad theological, or many a bit too philosophical for everyone, but there it is - my random thought on a Sunday.....

Pondering the word Random

Further thoughts that crop up include pondering the word random itself.
According to the dictionary the meaning is as follows:

ran·dom ( P ) Pronunciation Key (rndm)adj.
Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective: random movements. See Synonyms at chance.
Mathematics & Statistics. Of or relating to a type of circumstance or event that is described by a probability distribution.
Of or relating to an event in which all outcomes are equally likely, as in the testing of a blood sample for the presence of a substance.

Somehow, this doesn't seem to cover it though. The sheer randomness of life seems to have a purpose of its own. It keeps us guessing, on our toes, wondering, "What's next?" I always thought that part of the joy of randomness was it's ability to keep us from becoming too staid, too set in our ways. One of the great tenents of my life has been that "The only constant in life is change." And then there's that word chance...chance encounter...took a chance....what were the chances? Somehow that doesn't feel the same as random, yet the dicitonary tells us it is a synonym. My life seems to have had a purpose to its randomness, a meaning if you will. To accept that you can't let what you have planned for your life get in the way of what life has planned for you.
Everytime I thought I had it licked, had it all figured out, was finally on the right path - BLAM! Life smacked me upside the head! Stupid person - there is no right (or wrong for that matter) path that will make your life hum along like a welltuned engine. Never missing a beat, happy happy happy. Nope. No one gets to keep the gold ring forever - you only get to hold it for a while. But that possession is only temporary, fleeting at best. Before you know it, life has snatched it from your grasp while you weren't looking. The best we can hope for is to get to hold it more than once in our lives.

OK, I can hear your objections - STOP SHOUTING! I know that sounds pessimistic. Fatalistic. Where is the chance in that? Hmmmmm, let me ponder that for a while.

Aren't all thoughts random? Why are yours so special?

How can I answer that queston - thoughts seem to randomly appear even when you're trying to concentrate on a particular problem or topic. Up they pop like like lightning bugs flitting across the sky on a summer night. Some burn brightly and get your immediate attention. Others flicker on and off, on and off, for some time before you notice them. And then there are those whose light is dim, but who land on your hand or head and annoy the heck out of you till you swat them away. But the best and hardest are the ones who flash on and off quickly - flying in strange and random patterns - always just out of reach. They tantalize you with their possibilities, their promise of something special, better. Leading you on a merry chase across the lawn till finally, nearly out of breath, you reach out and grab them, only to open your hand and see that it is empty and that special idea has slipped out of sight. Even if you manage to find it again, it never seems quite the same, some vital bit is missing, it turns out not to be so unique after all. So, what are random thoughts.....