Tyler McElhenny- For the Love of the Game

I think we briefly touched upon the idea of fate in class when we watched the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. I have always been interested in the idea of fate and hoping that in some cases, I am destined for something. The movie For Love of the Game expresses fate perfectly. The film is about an aging baseball player playing in what is believed to be his last season. The movie shows flashbacks of his life on and off the field. Kevin Costner plays Billy Chapel, a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. Throughout the film, Chapel’s life story is told, highlighting the ups and downs of his personal life. In the present time, Chapel is throwing against the New York Yankees and his girlfriend is moving to Paris for a job. At the end of the film, Chapel throws a perfect game (which means nobody got on base), he finds his girlfriend at the airport and goes to Paris with her, and retires from baseball. That is what is called a storybook ending and it could have been figured out within the first 10 minutes of the movie. It was fate that he pitched the best game of his life, on a day that should have been the worst day. He is able to find his girlfriend in the crowded airport before she boards a plane. Just about everything Bill Chapel does is fate. Some things that happen in my life seem like fate but I am not certain they are. Fate is a very difficult idea to argue but with the idea from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that everyone has free will, fate seems to be devalued a little. Personally, I believe that we are free to make choices in our lives but fate has a role in how things turn out.