What movie features so many amazing quotes in between interesting action scenes than Kungfu panda. If you have seen the movie, you will see how much wisdom were in the words of Master Oogway. So much that, the Kungfu Panda movie was not only an epic piece of entertainment but was also a source of wisdom and inspiration. Thanks to the creators.
“You are too concerned with what was and what will be. There is a saying; Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present”.
Yet another wisdom dropped by the same Oogway, whose quote brought us here in the first place. But going back to his earlier quote, there are no accidents, what does it mean and what can we learn from it?
First of all, what are accidents?
Accidents may be defined as unexpected or unplanned events that usually produce unfavourable or unpleasant, or sometimes even harmless outcomes, occurring in a non-predictable fashion.
From the definition above, accidents are uncertainties that produce significant effects, whether harmful or not. Accidents cannot be predicted, and when it is predictable, it ceases to be called an accident.
Let’s relate accidents closer a little bit.
Generally, accidents are viewed in the context of uncertain events that can lead to disability, loss of life, property and/or deterioration of assets. Several classifications have been developed to delineate the types of accidents, but in this post, I will classify accidents based on the where it is experienced.
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Classification
- Accidents at work
- Road Traffic accidents
- Home accidents
- Medical negligence
- Natural accidents
- Sport-related accidents
- Industrial accidents, etc
According to a study published by I. Wagner on Statista about Road accidents in the United States, it was shown that over 12 million vehicles were involved in road traffic accidents in the year 2018, with a fatality rate of up to 1.13 deaths per 100 million miles travelled. Each day, several forms of accidents are witnessed by varying number of people in every region of the world.
Data about accidents are voluminous and sometimes too cumbersome and erratic to be reported by many countries, not to talk about how diverse the sources of accidents and where they are experienced can be.
At this point, someone’s got to be lying. We have data showing a large number of accident occurrences daily and even yearly, nonetheless, Master Oogway is telling us there are no accidents. Who is the liar among these two groups?
What Does “There Are No Accidents” Mean?
Accidents in the context of Kungfu Panda’s Master Oogway refers to coincidences or things relating to chance, fate or luck. To a greater extent, accidents may refer to mistakes in this context. But what does it really mean?
Many experiences we have as humans or many conditions you may have found yourself have the tendency to make you think that you are either in the wrong place or that you are a mistake. Mistakes are meant to be corrected and taking everything to mean an accident can have huge consequences.
Some of the ways negative effects of believing that all uncertainties are accidents include a decision to give up trying to change the status quo because you believe that an accident has already happened and it has destroyed all it can already. You may have tried different to make your own life better and more successful and after much efforts, you may be tempted to believe that you too are a mistake, that you are an accident. But soon, you would agree with the words of Oogway that there are no accidents.
3 Common Schools Of Thoughts About Accidents
These include 3 classifications of people based on how well they agree with the saying that there are no accidents. In other words, when uncertainties or unfavourable events strike, the action of these people will reflect which of the categories below they belong to.
- Those that believe in accidents and work to improve things
- Those that believe in accidents and do nothing about them
- Those that believe that there are no accidents
The list is quite self-explanatory, isn’t it? The latter category, that is, those that believe that there are no accidents do no seen any of their predicaments are uncertainties that have come to take away their life or resources. They take everything that happens as a phase they need to go through, or can even go as far as accepting that they are a major cause of some of the things they are currently facing. This they do to find out ways to do things right and achieve major results.
Beyond believing that there are no accidents or not believing, the quote “there are no accidents” aims to stir in you a recognition that whatever actions you have taken is a step in the right direction, as long as you can’t change it anymore. It is common to see people who would continually blame themselves for something they did or happened to them some years ago, they can’t change it, but they are stuck in the belief that that mistake or accident is and remains a trigger to their demise and extermination.
Lifting some insights directly from the Kungfu Panda movie, there are no accidents also mean that nature does not make mistakes. Your natural predispositions, abilities, inabilities and disabilities may look like some big mistakes that can ultimately make you useless or only relatively useful, as the case may be. But looking deeper, you can find that they may be blessings in disguise. Even if it does not have any elements of blessing in it, this mind stimulates you to fight your way through the journey of establishing your own self-worth.
Lessons to learn from “There Are No Accidents”
Wisdom is not meant to be kept hidden, or just had. It is meant to inspire us to do things better and more acceptable. So what are some wisdom principles from Oogway’s there are no accidents that can inspire us to live a better, more productive and happy life?
- Don’t give up trying
- Don’t live for fate to decide everything
- You are not a mistake
- Every state you find yourself have what you need to get to the next level
- You are a major contributor to your successes, and of course, failures
- There can be advantages in your disadvantages
Don’t Give Up Trying
One great lesson we can learn from the quote ‘there are no accidents’ is that we must never give up trying. Maybe you have struggled tirelessly to secure the job of your dreams without any success. Every employer now knows your full names, but they just wouldn’t try to find out how much you can contribute to their organization.
There are no coincidences. It may seem like that is an unpleasant reality, however, if you belong to the gang that believes that there are no accidents, you will come to accept that where you are currently, together with the challenges associated with it, is only a phase you will need to cross before you transit to the other side of success.
Don’t Live For Fate To Decide Everything
People who believe in fate and luck do not do so only because they feel hopeless about things. They choose to live their life based on fate also because they see most things as mere accidents that just come and go. They attribute everything to destiny.
It’s true nature has its own part in many of our experiences, there are some things you just cannot explain. In legal documentations, these are referred to as “act of God”, that is, natural hazard outside human control for which no person can be held responsible. Do your best to live on without letting these uncontrollable factors hinder your growth and progress, while also doing your best in those areas you have some control over, because these controllable factors follow the saying that there are no accidents.
You Are Not A Mistake
If anybody told you, you were a mistake, they are not more than wrong. Which word would that be, to be more than wrong?
If anyone told you that you are a mistake, what would your reaction be? Spank them on their occiput, or blow them on their abdomen? Maybe you know better how to deal with that, but on a more serious note, you must shun them enough for them to know that you know what you are made off.
People who believe that everything about their life is an accident without taking the bull by the horns on certain issues, might also be forced to believe that their own existence was an accident too. They might blame their parents for bringing them to the world, other times, they would seek to end it all. But you need to know one thing clearly here. There are many things we can rightly call accidents, so many things that fit into the definition, but, without batting an eye, there are no accidents.
Every State You Find Yourself Has What You Need To Get To Your Next Level
The father of management, Peter Drucker, in one of his books, “Managing in a Time of Great Change”, wrote a lot about times of great uncertainties. Wars, natural disasters and even the likes of the COVID-19 can have great impact on many activities, including business. Peter Drucker in his writing had insisted that the uncertainties and disasters that we face, when managed rightly, can produce great outcomes different from those previous anticipated. In other words, when theoretically, these disasters have what it takes to crush you to the ground, you have everything you need to survive it and even get to your next level.
You Are A Major Contributor To Your Successes and Failures
People generally take the glory for successes but push away the blames when they encounter some failures. I say “generally” but some people are excluded from this generalization. But who are these people that have been excluded?
If you say that there are accidents only when you encounter failure, can you be described as being fair? The pitfall in that is that you will never be able to look into your own causes of the failure and find a way to avoid them in the future, or modify your methods to better achieve success.
When you achieve success, you recognize that you had some roles to play, even though not a hundred per cent. Same goes when you hit some setbacks. That is not the time to emphasize that it was an accident. It could have been an accident though, but the important question is, what could you have done better?
There Can Be Advantages In Your Disadvantages
Here is a very funny scenario. You were about cutting a piece of wood on the table when your knife mistakenly struck your nail injuring your nail plate. You could see blood gather under your nail just along the line of the cut, but that was the only injury your sustained, no deep open lacerations.
Sometimes, looking beyond the disadvantages opens up a new view for you. There can be unrecognized blessings in your some of your worst experiences that you should be grateful for. Imagine, if that cut was deeper, or even cutting through your entire finger, how would it have been? This is a more optimistic way to view life, but it is just an offshoot from the statement that there are no accidents. There’s got to be a reason why this happened this way and at this time.
Why Did It Happen This Way And At This Time?
The question “why” is a very important question you should ask yourself when you find yourself in situations of dilemma. Why is the “why question” so important? It is so important because the answers to it will provide you with insights on how to avoid it as much as you can next time.
I still hear the contradicting voice that whatever happened was meant to have happened. Yes, let’s agree that it was meant to have happened at this time in this manner. The only question I have for you is, what could you have done to make it turn out differently and better?
This is not a call for you to cast self-blames, or to cry over spilt milk. In reality, you should spend as little time as possible crying or being depressed about it. What you should do the next second, is get on your feet and start working again. That’s what the Bryophyllum plant does. It grows up new shoots from its leaf when you cut a part from it.
I hope you enjoyed this post and you found it enlightening. Please leave a comment for me below.
Not clear with any point? Ask me in the comments below. Thank you.
