“Que sera sera”－ whatever will be, will be!
After doing a little research on the popular statement that has lived through a good number of years, I got to understand a few things. One is that the statement has a Spanish or Italian origin, which is found to be grammatically incorrect in both languages. It's also found to be adopted and used basically in English with the meaning as “whatever will be, will be.” Another thing found was that the statement became popular from its use in the 1956 movie “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, where the song was sung by Doris Day. I wouldn't want to go deep into the whereabouts of the saying, but to make my point in this post rather (Sourced from Google AI overview).
Something that caught my attention beyond what I intended to share in this post after conducting this little research was why the saying isn't popular or used amongst the users of the original language(s), but rather English? Well, I could think or say, maybe the grammatical incorrectness or probably something else.
It would be helpful to also mention that the use of the statement in the English language comes with a sense of “cheerful fatalism”－a conception or believe that there's a predetermined and preordained course for actions and events, which one can't do anything about basically, but then one should learn to welcome such with a positive and cheerful gesture.
Now, while that; especially the cheerful response, could seem like something okay to go with, I find it not healthy a thing to feed our minds with. As much as life is full of uncertainties, and we're certainly not sure of tomorrow or even the next moment, we should learn to be resilient rather, and not let the circumstances of life dictate to us how to live and approach life.
So, I thought, que sera sera?, whatever will be, will be? I don't think it should be so. I believe we have the power to define the outcome of our lives. A hard truth we aren't told or haven't realised ourselves is that indecisions are decisions, and inactions are actions, so as much as actions and decisions have consequences, so do their opposites.
When one decides that whatever will be, will be, then absolutely “whatever” will be, will be, without any doubt or hesitation. How about we let what would be, to be, on our terms? Yes, the undeniable reality is that some situations are overwhelming and just beyond us, but the big question is, has one tried enough to know it's beyond them, or is it just a case of folding the arms and, que sera sera?
The intentions of the saying aren't something I'm totally conversant with, and the idea of the “cheerful fatalism” sounds right and okay. The statement as a whole sounds appealing to the ears, especially when rhythms are added to it, which I saw in another movie series. However, if we let what will be to be, how can we bring a change to our lives and the world? How can we reach those destinations? How can we achieve those dreams?
So, yes, what will be, will be, perhaps, but “if you can't stop a bird from flying over your head, you can stop it from making a nest on your head.” And when you do that, what will be will be what you've made it to be. We're responsible for the outcome of our lives.
Images are mine.