Realizing that my life is composed of happenstances that somehow worked out for the better while reading a chapter of One Piece is funny for my age. It’s a shonen manga, one written for young boys.
But maybe it’s because the author is a wise man, who appears to know what he’s doing twenty-odd years after the first volume hit the stands, that such a seemingly juvenile tale about 2D pirates can have such an impact to the point that I was thinking about my own existence.
For the uninitiated: The series follows a young man named Monkey D. Luffy as he sets out to sea to become king of the pirates. In the case of patterns, Luffy has always been a lucky man. He happened to be stuck in a barrel before being killed by a whirlpool, met a boy his age who had actual knowledge about navigating the seas, landed on an island where another young lad with a strong personality was tied up, saved him— you get the idea. Luffy has no solid plan at all. Yet somehow things worked out, and he’s still alive and getting closer to his dream a thousand chapters later.
I’m like Luffy in that I had no real plans to reach my dream. But the similarity ends there. Unlike him, I don’t have a solid goal. I go with the flow, set temporary targets, but abandon them halfway or not follow through.
The gap widens further because, unlike me, Luffy appears to be pre-destined to turn the world upside down. He had an inherited will, one that transcends time and place, set to change the tides of an era, hopefully for the better. And it just so happens that his goal coincides with his fate.
Since I’m not that kind of protagonist, I find it hard to believe that everything that happened to me up until now was planned ahead of time. I’m far too ordinary for the Planner to spend time connecting my life’s dots from start to finish.
But I may be wrong, no?
I believe in God. I believe He created everything there is— my life, the world, the universe. He designed his masterwork in a way that my feet end up firm on the ground no matter how high I jump, that humans can exist only on earth, and that the celestial bodies can stay hanging in space without falling or colliding. There is a plan for all that’s going around.
I recognize Him as a planner of humans’ stories. So maybe He had planned my life after all?
Then it hit me. What happens in the middle is not strictly scripted. Because I have my free will. I can choose— good or bad? Sweet or bitter? Hot or cold? I am offered different paths, and I have the freedom to pick one I think will suit me.
That’s how it also plays out in the manga. While Luffy is set on one path, he had to go through making decisions and choices as he reaches a stage. Once he chooses one, obstacles block his way. But, somehow he makes it through. And he’s not alone. He had help.
The author lays out the groundwork, prepares for the worst, and waits. He will then weave events to align with whatever his character decides on. Mostly he will see to it that Luffy will eventually win. And sometimes, let his world crumble so the boy can grow.
Isn’t it the same with real life? Our string of decisions contributes to our present selves and where we are now. And somehow, we feel like someone is guiding us out or deeper into our current situation. When something in our lives suddenly clicks, when we’re out of misery and feeling our existence for the first time, we feel it— the Master’s work.
What appeared to be coincidences are, in hindsight, important interactions, valuable lessons, and precious memories. Heartaches become lessons. Tragedies become battle scars. The present mourns a meaningless life, but the future awaits with a smile, so long as we can feel a light string of guidance pulling us to where we should be.
If Eiichiro Oda can pull Luffy out of his miseries a thousand times over, to lead him to his ultimate dream, is there a reason for me not to believe that a Master Planner more intelligent and capable can do much better for real-life characters such as myself?
Maybe I’m a small blip in the universe, but my Planner has the sharpest ears to hear me.
And that puts me, just like how Luffy always feels, at ease.
