Jonas: Fiona, there is more. So much more. [He kisses her] Chief Elder’s Assistant: What are they doing? Jonas: Fiona, what do you feel? Fiona: I don’t have the words to describe it. -The Giver, 2014.
It is interesting to note that the English word coincidence means “to fall together” as indeed does the German word Zufall. The equivalent in French of “by chance” is par hasard, derived from the Hebrew as God wills it. Such thoughts might lead us to consider that every meeting with another human being has a meaning, that God wills it.
Can we conceive of being led to one another at a certain time, at a certain place, to mutually accomplish something?
Who choreographs our meetings?
Looking back over the events of my life, I find three situations where I seemed to be guided to meet up someone for a reason:
1. Someone with a strong message.
As Stephen R. Covey stated “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” Listen well, because the person who is in front of you might have an important message to deliver.
2. Someone who awakens us (the real mentor).
Few people speak the truth because they fear to lose. Remember these words: The ones who startle you, who are harder on you, are the ones who can awaken you.
As in the movie The Giver, in a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy called Jonas is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the “real” world and be the one who awakens the rest.
3. Someone who manifests themselves like a test.
Sometimes it’s not easy to understand why you meet unconscious people who hurt you when you’ve worked hard on yourself. This is a test. A test to realize who you have become.