Fortuitous Events

An article has made me think about things like “blessings in disguise,” fortuitous events, good and bad fortune, and even “luck.” One who lives by faith rather than sight might mean looking beyond present circumstances, which seem out of control, and remain trustful that God is at work.

"Billionaire Dies at a Fortuitous Time."

That was the headline of a 2010 article in the journal of the American Bar Association.

It invites the question, "Is there really a fortuitous time to die?"

It is likely, however, that lawyers -- the readers of the ABA journal -- understood precisely the implications of that headline. Unlike the general population that usually understands a "fortuitous event" to mean a "fortunate event," or a stroke of good luck, attorneys know that in legalese the word goes back to its original meaning applying to "an unforeseen event that occurs by chance or accident from natural or man-made forces over which an affected person has no control. A fortuitous event can have either positive or negative consequences."

Whether positive or negative, fortuitous events are not something within our control. In that regard, they're much like what insurance companies mean when they label a freak occurrence as "an act of God" -- an instance of uncontrollable natural forces in operation -- or what a legal contract means when it speaks of force majeure -- a chance occurrence or unavoidable accident that results from a power superior to that of any human actor.

In any case, the article under this headline told about the passing of a 77-year-old Texas oil-pipeline billionaire, Dan Duncan. His death was fortuitous not to him, but to his heirs, thanks to a quirk in the U.S. estate tax law. As it happened, Duncan died within a one-year exemption window from the estate tax.

Had he died three months earlier, the government would have taxed his estimated $9 billion estate at a rate of at least 45 percent. If he had lived until the following year, the tax rate would have been 55 percent. Since he died within that window of exemption, however, his whole fortune went on to those to whom he had willed it.

That was indeed fortuitous for his heirs, but bear in mind that if the quirk in the estate tax had worked the other way -- that is, if he had died during a window when death taxes were higher than usual -- the outcome would still have been fortuitous for the heirs. As already noted, according to the legal and business definition, a fortuitous event can have either positive or negative consequences.

A usage note at dictionary.com explains: "Fortuitous has developed in [its meaning] from 'happening by chance' to 'happening by lucky chance' to simply 'lucky, fortunate.' This development was probably influenced by the similarity of fortuitous to fortunate and perhaps to felicitous."

The point is not to reinstate the original meaning of "fortuitous events," but, because life throws all sorts of events at us that may not be as good or bad as we initially think, it is useful to recall that the term once allowed for both positive and negative outcomes.

Have you not had happenings in your life that you at first thought were bad things, but which, given time or twists in this or that, turned out to be good things? Or vice versa? If things do not go as planned, do you really know if that was a good or a bad? It might be too early to tell.

A classic biblical example of that is Joseph being thrown in the pit and sold into slavery. At the time, I am sure that to Joseph it was a bad thing. However, when he was reunited with his brothers after a widespread and long-lasting famine drove them to Egypt in search of food, he told them, "Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today" (Genesis 50:20).