“The Chosen One”
In the article “The Chosen One,” the author Gary Smith portrays the role of destiny through analyzing the complex nature of Tiger Woods. After a brief introduction depicting the Fred Haskins dinner, one of the zeniths of Woods’ career, Smith inserts a flash back to the very moment of Earl Woods’ discovery of his purpose and the inception of “the chosen one.” When Earl tries “est, Erhard Seminars Training, an intensive self-discovery and self-actualizing technique” focused on changing one’s destiny by altering one’s thoughts, especially emotionally, he finds his life’s aspiration– “to be destiny’s father” (42-43). Even so, before accepting this notion, I must ask, ‘How does changing one’s thoughts alter one’s destiny?’ …show more content…
Furthermore, short of an extreme cerebral modification, one cannot dramatically transform one’s thoughts; in actuality, any “successful” endeavors result only from a successful deceiving of the brain. Even the acronym “est,” an allusion to the Latin phrase “it is,” implies destiny to be a more permanent state of being. Like the English phrase “it is what it is” which implies a sense of helplessness, fate simply “is.” However, after connecting the eerie set of circumstances, Earl declares “this is all destined to be,” and a young Tiger also proclaims to the media “This is my purpose. It will unfold,” clearly establishing destiny as a central theme of the story and preparing for the inevitable clash of fate. Indeed, no more than three lines after Tiger’s affirmation, Smith immediately reverses to “The machine will win. It must win because it too is destiny, five billion destinies leaning against one” (45). Knowing the futility behind rewriting one’s own story, Smith signifies one false fate in the juxtaposition of two conflicting destinies. Although, as a whole, Smith eventually seems to lean towards a victorious Tiger Woods in his concluding illustration of a multiracial world, outside context provided by the passing