The Big A

Ms. Lees asks: "Was a person's life path determined before they were born? Is it today? Or can a man change his stars as the clip suggests?"

To provide some background, the clip shown is an excerpt from the movie A Knight's Tale. It portrays William, a poor squire, trying to convince his fellow squires, Roland and Wat, that they can use the money that they won from a jousting tournament to "change their stars" and reach glory and riches. In the end, William is successful in persuading them.

This also relates to one of the preview activities we did in class. One group was asked to make a chart displaying Canadian hierarchy. At the bottom were the homeless people and sanitation engineers (a.k.a. janitors), while at the top were the govenment officials and pop culture celebrities. The question is asking whether it's possible for someone at the bottom to work their way up.

The answer to the question depends on the definition of "life path". Assuming that it doesn't mean "fate" or "destiny", then my answer would be: yes. In bleak situations, such as William's in A Knight's Tale, a person can persevere and try to make their situation better by taking chances to better their situation, instead of staying stagnant and trying to be content with their current situation.

In previous times, such as 18th-century France, there were rigid class distinctions. If you were born a peasant, you would stay a peasant. The chances of a person in a lower class being able to advance to a higher class was next to impossible. Now, with the concept of "all men are born equal", it is much easier for a person to "change their stars" and improve their life.

Today, people have many opportunities to take chances and better their lives. The probably most well-known epitome of "rags to riches" is the late Steve Jobs. Born into a family that later broke up, he was raised by an adoptive family. In college, he made ends meet by sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returning Coke bottles for money, and getting a weekly free meal at the local Hare Krishna temple. Two years later, he finally got a permanent job. In 1976, two years afterwards, Apple was founded, and Jobs later became manager for Apple's Macintosh division. In 1985, he was removed from his position at Apple, and later resigned from Apple to found a new company, NeXT Inc. It would be eleven years after his termination from Apple before he returned and was finally made CEO. His company would go on to revolutionize the electronics sector, releasing products such as the iMac, iPod, and iPhone.

This anecdote just goes to show how much a person can do even with a poor initial situation and setbacks on the road to success. If Steve Jobs gave up in the electronics sector and settled for something else, there would not be Apple as we know it today. Changing one's stars might not be easy, but it can result in great things if one perseveres.