Deduction vs Induction

To deduce is to draw a specific conclusion from a general principle. To induce is to derive a general principle from specific observations.

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Believe in destiny, yet act like Maggie

Photo taken by Yusuke Kawasaki under Creative Commons license

I still remember that scene of "City of Angels", when Maggie (Meg Ryan), who was a doctor, and she tried to save one of her patients, yet he died in the end.

Maggie: I couldn't fix him.
I did everything right...
...and I couldn't fix him.
That's not supposed to happen.
And l....

Seth: You cried.

I may love this move just because of this scene. It changed the way I see the world a bit back then when I watched it 15 years ago or something. We love the word "Destiny", yet our relation with it is complicated, since we blame everything on it. We never fail, government officials never do anything wrong, it's all destiny. Maggie on the other hand did not believe in Destiny, that's why she believed she has to save her patient, and if he dies, then it is her mistake, her's only. But the patient died in the end, yet she did everything right.

Between the two extremes, I believe we may believe in destiny, yet act like Maggie, act as if it doesn't exist.

What reminded me of this today, is yet another train accident that took place in Egypt, exactly two months ago we had another accident where dozens of school-children died. And as you might have expected, the officials and their look-alike citizens blame it on everything from destiny to the train driver, to the former president Mubarak, to - may be - the British occupation a century ago; you name it.