Pathways

                                                                      Pathways
     "That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind." Our lives are, as it says in the quote, "connected." This means only one word to me, and that word is "destiny." In my veiw, our lives are guided by God, and we usually follow the "path" chosen by Him. This path has many "intersections" where everybody's lives affect each other's. Even if we stray off God's "paths," we will still change another person's life eventually.
     There is a great example in The Five People You Meet in Heaven. In the story, the Blue Man tried to swerve around Eddie when Eddie was a kid, trying to get the ball out of the road. Due to this, the Blue Man died afterward. If Eddie was not playing that day, another kid would take his place, and the Blue Man would most likely try to dodge this kid and get in the horrible wreck. The Blue Man would then meet the boy in question. Eddie could have also looked down the street, if he was playing that day, and see the car coming. That would make Eddie stay off the road and also let the Blue Man live.
     There is another example that many people can relate to: real life. It can be anything from bumping into other people in the supermarket which may delay them from getting into an accident or cause one later. Another example is a friend could get a text that changes his life. The death of a loved one, mother, or other relative. These things show how all of our lives are connected.

Why We Are Here

``That there are no random acts. That were all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind.`` This quote could mean many different things, but personally I think of why we are here. God puts us on this Earth for a reason. We may not know why we are here now, though we will throughout our life. For example, a man named Shane Koyczan recently made a video on Youtube named ``To This Day Project`` about himself and two other people getting bullied as children. Their stories have inspired me and many other people to protest against bullying. That story is proof things happen for a reason. Every day our words and actions have an effect on people; it is our choice to make them either good or bad. We should be kind to our peers because we would want them to be kind to us. Picking up something somebody dropped, motivating someone, and smiling to people when they are not having a good day are all little things that can leave the biggest impact on a person. We have to choose not to make bad decisions because like a row of dominos, everything can fall down. God puts us on this Earth to inspire, teach, change the world, and to do so many things. That is why we are here.

Inevitable Fate

          At the beginning of Eddie’s journey through heaven, he is told by the blue man, “That there are no random acts. That we are all connected.  That you can no more separate one life than you can separate a breeze from the wind.”  Personally, this quote means everything happens for a reason and has a cause and effect. God’s plan is already laid out for you, therefore; everything you do is not random. There is always reason behind the decisions you make throughout your life. Within God’s plan for you, you encounter people with or without knowing it. Some things do not have to happen in front of your face to affect you, affect someone else, or happen because of you.  The phrase, “If a tree in the forest falls and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?” is an example of how clueless we all really are. We think things are easier to believe unless it is in front of us, but that does not mean there is no effect that occurred because of it. We are connected through these effects no matter how small they may seem. A perfect example would be the butterfly effect, which explains how something you have done affects someone and then they affect someone else and so on. We can all be traced through the chain reaction of life.  As much as a person may want to change things, we sadly cannot.  God gave us a fate that is inevitable. Our fate includes the causes and effects, the reason behind choices, and people behind them.  We face a reality where we believe we are in control of our lives, but we are truly controlled by a fate we cannot escape. We are connected to a chain reaction we cannot stop just as the breeze cannot separate itself from the wind. 

Randomness is Nonexistent

        "That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind." In my opinion, this quote means that every decision we make and every action we make can affect others around us, whether we realize that or not. A simple, every day occurrence to me could lead to a catastrophic event for someone else, and there is no action that goes unnoticed. Every person in the world contributes to each other, whether it be good or bad. We, as human beings, are all connected, and small acts of kindness can rub off on someone else, sometimes on a person who you have never met before. Fate has a big role to play in life, and like Eddie discovers many times during the story, everything happens for a reason.  Randomness is nonexistent on Earth, and even the most miniscule of actions can have a huge impact on the lives of others, just like in the story, where Eddie finds out that he has impacted the Blue Man and Ruby,  two people whom he had never before or had any contact with. This shows the delicateness of life and that we should be careful in every action we take. We are all caught in the web of life, with one person closely connected to the next, whether that be a friend or a stranger. Because of this, we should all have a positive outlook on life, and try to make the ripple effect of our actions a good occurrence rather than a catastrophic one. Even though many of these chain reactions are impossible to predict, I believe that thinking before you act can be a matter of life or death in the long run. All in all, I believe that this quote is a mirror image of our lives because there, in reality, are no acts that fly below the radar, and we are all closely knit, even if we may not realize it.

Connection: The Truth to Reality

          In the novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, The author quotes "That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind."I think that this is the main moral of the story because the idea of it is repeated in every chapter. 
         The first part of the quote, "That there are no random acts" means that everything that you do, say, or mess up, has an effect on someone else. This is proven in the italicized part of the chapter, The Second Lesson when Eddie runs out in the road to get his baseball and is just missed by the Ford Model A. The driver (the blue man) ended up having a heart attack. The blue man's life is taken and Eddie's life is saved. 
         The next part of the quote, "That we are all connected" means that every human is affected by other humans, or in other words, anything you do, you're affecting someone else, not just yourself. In The Blue Man's story of his life, when he soiled himself and his father got upset with him, he became stressed and was prescribed Silver Nitrate, which turned him blue. Thus, The Blue Man was affected by his father.
         The third part of the quote, "That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind" says that we are affecting one another whether we know it or not. For instance, when Eddie chases his baseball across the street and the blue man had a heart attack, Eddie didn't know that he was affecting The Blue Man, but as a matter of fact, he affected the outcome of his life.

The Connection

       When the writer says, "That there are no random acts," he is saying that everything happens for a reason. That everything we do or say happens because there is a reason for it. Also, I think he is trying to say that even if something seems pointless, it actually happened for a reason. That even the smallest detail of your life has a purpose.

        To me, when the author says," That we are all connected," I think that he is trying to tell us that everything that we do affects someone else whether we realize it or not. Even though we may not know it, we have affected someone else's life. No matter how big or small the change was, our action had an impact on their life.  Our life is affected by other peoples actions or  words and our words and actions affect other people.                                                                            

      Also, with his statement, " That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind." I think he is trying to say that we affect people lives whether we like it or not. That there is no way that we can stop ourselves from affecting someone's life. Therefore, we all have impacts on each other's  life. Whether you have good impacts on someone's life or bad impacts on their life is up to you.

The Connection of Our Lives

        "That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind." I find this phrase to be very important and that people should really look into what it means. To me it means that we all have a purpose in life and we affect one another's lives.
         Each and everyday we do something that effects our lives or someone else's, whether its texting someone or telling a stranger good morning, we effect each other. Just s millionth at someone could effect their day. You can either destroy someone's good times or cheer them up after a terrible day. That just goes to show that we are all connected.

Meaningful Life Lesson in Death

     "That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can a breeze from a wind." That was the lesson the Blue Man had to teach Eddie for either of them to move to the next stage. The Blue Man showed Eddie how his actions affect both him and those around him. To me, this mean that everything that happens to you or someone else has a purpose. Nothing is meaningless. Every end leads to a new beginning.
     Whether you recognize it or not, your life is impacted by people and things every day. The crater left by this impact may not be significant, but it still leaves a mark. These situations vary from your pastor running into you on the sidewalk to a homeless man begging for change at an intersection. Not only can someone impact you, but you can alter their life as well. It could be as simple as a gentle wave to the new kid in school or as significant as pulling someone out of a burning vehicle.
     There are no coincidences. Everything that happens is part of a greater plan. The way you say hello to someone could determine their attitude for the rest of the day, or have a far greater impact. Nobody's life is meaningless. Everyone has a purpose.

We All Have a Part to Play

               "That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind." This quote can be interpreted in various ways. To me, it means every decision we make effects more people than we know. Sometimes it effects them for better and sometimes for worse. Even one decision that seems pointless or trivial to me could possibly cause a tragedy for someone else. It also means that even if we think we have no effect on anyone or anything, we all may have effected someone's life, whether we know it or not. It's as if everyone is part of a bigger picture that none of us truly realize. The quote makes me understand that we all have a role to play on Earth. Thinking that any small decision could drastically change anyone's life seems insurmountable. If we are all really as connected as the book implies, then there is almost nothing we can do to stop the negative or positive outcomes for which we will be responsible because these outcomes seem inevitable. This means that everyone's life has a massive impact, and we can't stop that.  I feel that many people would not really want to know the effects that they have had on other people because of the responsibility that they would feel for a negative outcome. If we can destroy lives with a simple choice, like crossing the street and not knowing that it could effect others, then we need to do our best to make positive outcomes on lives when we can.

Life Connections

     The Five People You Meet in Heaven has more than one message from the author that are meant to teach you something. Here is an example of one of those  statements."That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can a breeze from a wind." This quote is  stating that everything you do will have a consequence, whether it be positive or negative. When you do something it will either affect you or someone around you. This may even be a reaction that you don't even realize has happened. A great example of this in The Five People You Meet in Heaven is when Eddie goes in the street to retrieve a ball and ends up killing the Blue Man without realizing it.
     This quote is also saying that every life is connected. If you are across  the globe or just down the street from each other, everyone has an impact on someone else's life. It says "You can not separate one life from another than you can a breeze from the wind." This means that you cannot separate people's  lives, because in the end we are all connected as one. Over all, this statement is saying that every life is part of a whole, and we are all equals on this Earth. Personally, I feel that this quote is accurate and inspiration to many people.

     Payton Chustz
     July 24, 2013

A Life of Nothing

A Life of Nothing

“That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate the breeze from the wind.” Those are the very sentences that contradict Eddie’s entire perspective of his life. The life he referred to as “a life of nothing.” “That there are no random acts,” means exactly what it says. It says that nothing goes unplanned; everything serves a purpose at some point to someone. God has arranged for everything to be just the way it is. No matter how big or small it may be. “That we are all connected” is exactly what it is led on to be, also. We are all connected in some way or another, what we may do today will affect someone tomorrow, or what we do here will affect someone over there and vice versa. We do not always know the reason for everything that happens or maybe we do we just cant make peace with the facts, so we shut them out. “That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind.” In a nutshell, that means that if you go from one person to the next we all have some kind of effect on the other. Eddie thought his actions in his life added up to about a hundred times zero. Eddie’s perspective of his life was that he, in fact, ha “a life of nothing.” He came to realize that he had a huge impact on his life acquaintances and many more. I believe God has a plan for everyone in the world, we are supposed to do what he has planned and we will, one day, get our time in his kingdom. I mean, that is the real meaning of life. Isn’t it?

All of it Matters

"That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind." This quote means a lot to me. It means that everything you do affects someone else, either positively or negatively. For example, the Blue Man's death allowed Eddie to live. The Captain shot Eddie in the leg so he would get out of the hut and not burn to death. There are no random acts. Everyone is connected in some way. Whether its by affecting them or saving their life. The Blue Man taught Eddie  "Faith does not govern life and death. If it did, no good person would die young." Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes you don't know exactly why that happened. Even if someone doesn't seem significant to you any bit, they are in some way. Remember that when you are doing something. All of it matters.

There are no random acts in life...

This theme meant a lot to me . It means that everything happens for a reason. There are no random events in life. All lives and experiences are interconnected in some way, and even the little things you do can affect other people's lives and experiences dramatically.The theme of this story is that no life is a waste, no matter how seemingly insignificant-and that there are no random acts, because all are connected. The profound but simple truths in this poignant story  reflect the themes that all is one, there are no random acts, and that peace, learning and growth face us on the Other Side.The Blue Man teaches Eddie his first lesson, which is that events are not random and lives intersect for a certain reason. There are really no random acts in life , and that fairness does not govern life and death . The Blue Man taught Eddie that good things come from bad events . For example , his death allowed Eddie to live . Any action we think is random could cost someone's life . This theme is saying that every man's actions had a way of affecting other lives . 

Everything Happens for a Reason

“That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate the breeze from the wind.” To me, this means multiple things. Every second of everything you do was and is planned out. It all happens for a reason. There’s no mistakes in life. People can be taken or added at any time and we wont know about it until it happens. Some die so others can live, but it’s just the way of life. Everyone is connected and if one person was missing from your life, it would be totally different. There’s always someone, whether you realize it or not, who has made an impact on your life, or whose life you've impacted. You don’t have to know them. It could be someone you smiled at walking down the street, but maybe that smile changed their life. All of the things you do, big or small, can impact not only you, but everyone around you.

Connected

     "That there are no are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind." What does this mean to me?
    In my opinion, when the quote states,"That there are no random acts," it means that everything happens for a reason. For example, when the captain shot Eddie in the leg while Eddie was trying to save the little girl in the burning hut, it was for a reason. It saved Eddie's life. "That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind," means that any person's actions, big or small, can effect another person's life, deeply. For example, when Eddie was playing baseball, and he ran out in the road to get the ball, it caused the blue man's death.
     This quote is very true. In fact, if I were traveling on vacation and my family stopped to buy gasoline for the car, this would pay an employee to provide for his family. Although my family and I wouldn't think about this, it is true. Any act can change somebody's life, at any moment.
   In conclusion, I believe that people should be more careful, and think about other people, as well as themselves. Despite this, everything happens for a reason. Therefore, even if people changed their actions, people's lives would still be effected. We are all connected.