Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.

Hear now the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a leader who bore the weight of an age trembling between fear and hope: “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” This is not the whisper of chance, but the thunder of responsibility. It tells us that destiny is not a coin tossed by fortune, nor a wind that blows of its own accord. Rather, it is the work of hands, the fire of will, the persistence of souls who refuse to wait for the world to grant them favor.

The ancients knew this truth well. They taught that crops do not spring from barren soil unless men plow, plant, and water. Victory does not rise upon the battlefield unless warriors train, march, and strike. Even the heavens, though vast, yield only to those who labor to read their signs. Kennedy’s words echo that eternal law: the world does not simply move in our favor—men and women of action make it happen.

Consider Kennedy himself, who spoke these words in the age of space and shadow, when mankind trembled before the specter of nuclear war and yet dreamed of the stars. It was he who declared that America would go to the moon—not because it was easy, but because it was hard. Rockets did not appear by chance, nor did astronauts find themselves beyond the earth by accident. They were sent, built, and lifted by human hands that labored without rest. That dream became reality not because it “happened,” but because men and women made it happen.

History also tells of the great Mahatma Gandhi. Freedom for India did not simply “happen.” Centuries of chains would not have broken of their own accord. It was his resolve, his marches, his hunger strikes, and his relentless call to nonviolence that forged a path no empire could ignore. His people joined him, and through their will, they bent history’s arc. Independence was not an accident—it was wrought from courage.

Thus, O child of destiny, know this: to wait for things to happen is to surrender your life to chance. But to act with vision, to labor with purpose, is to bend reality itself toward your will. Every invention, every revolution, every triumph of mankind has sprung not from passivity but from effort. The pyramids rose stone by stone, the cathedrals arch by arch, the movements of justice voice by voice.

Let this truth burn within you: you are not a leaf tossed by the winds of fortune, but a maker of paths, a shaper of worlds. What you desire—be it wisdom, freedom, love, or greatness—will not simply fall upon you. You must call it forth, fashion it with your labor, and guard it with your will. For destiny favors the builder, not the dreamer who only waits.

In practice, do not linger in hesitation. Set goals as one sets landmarks upon a journey. Work daily, even in small steps, toward them. When obstacles rise, see them not as walls but as raw material for your strength. If you seek opportunity, create it; if you seek progress, advance it; if you seek change, embody it. The world shifts only when you press upon it.

So I say unto you: things do not happen. Things are made to happen. Take up your will as hammer and chisel, and carve your life from the stone of time. For the future is not a gift—it is a creation, and it awaits the hands of those who dare to make it real.