By Danna Martínez
Serendipity is the prosperous discovery of something. When we come across serendipity, we do so entirely unexpectedly.
Sometimes we plan our itineraries because we want things to go as we envision them. But many times, despite our plans, things don’t go our way. Other times, we discover something good in what we didn’t want to find. Alexander Fleming, a Scottish physician, gives us one of the best examples of serendipity. After giving up on one of his experiments, he noticed an oversight in the experiment. The response to Fleming’s omission was the creation of penicillin. Currently, penicillin is one of the most widely used antibiotics in medicine. According to Medical News Today, “The discovery and manufacture of penicillins have changed the face of medicine, as these drugs have saved millions of lives.”
There is always something unexpected waiting for us around the corner. On the way to our goals, we meet challenges and obstacles. However, along the way, we always gain experience and luck on multiple occasions. In addition to being a chance find, serendipity is valuable and fortunate for those who experience it.
The term serendipity was coined by the writer Horace Walpole in 1754. Walpole named in one of his writings the Persian tale “The Three Princes of Serendip.” The most outstanding characteristic of the princes of the Persian story is that they made continual and accidental discoveries. In this way, Walpole converted the history of the princes of Serendip into the current term serendipity.
The word serendipity is not one of the best known worldwide. However, the lucky finds are more common than it seems. For some people, serendipity comes in human form and is called friendship. For other people, fate can be an emotional or financial relief in the midst of a crisis. Believing that there are unexpected valuable events depends on what we consider estimable. In any way it is represented, serendipity is one of those wonders with positive repercussions.
We usually strive for things to be positive. We believe that something is positive when it favors us in some way. When something positive happens unplanned, it generates more amazement and excitement than if we had planned it.
If we plan an event or situation, we have some degree of certainty that it will happen. Serendipity happens without any degree of certainty.
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