Can I Force The Hand Of God?

Life owes you nothing, but maybe you can find a loophole

While doom-scrolling through TikToks about whatever the Trump administration is up to, I watched a video about Kelvin Kiptum. Kelvin was the latest in a long line of East African (in this case, Kenyan) marathon runners who were predicted to do what scientists have long thought impossible: the sub-2-hour marathon. And all the evidence was there; he recently completed a sub-1-hour half marathon. As someone who just started running, that is an I-sold-my-soul-to-the-devil-for-speed pace. As of 2024, he holds three of the seven fastest marathons in history and was ranked first among the world's men's marathon runners at his death. All his achievements were not enough to convince whoever was in charge of this group project called Existence to keep him around for longer. The gods had other plans, and he died in a car accident.

When you see such a generational talent leave this planet so quickly, you're reminded that even greatness is not enough to pay for when the final toll comes to collect. If the gods are willing to take away science-defying talents, we lesser mortals cannot delude ourselves of our safety. Life absolutely owes us nothing.

And we have always known that the gods never really cared about us. Maybe the newer Abrahamic religions can delude us about a more just, caring God (as long as you focus on the New Testament). But it seems that earlier humans could not deceive themselves that much. In Greco-Roman myth, the gods are so jobless that they cannot stop meddling and interfering in the activities of mortals. Other religions had us sacrificing virgins and children to make sure that we had a good harvest that year. It is like we are in a toxic relationship with the divine.