True or false..."You are the Master of your own destiny" nt

[ms liberty]

88. Well said, and I have experienced that "near miss" type of situation

I went to the mall one day, back in the 80's. A few days later a young woman similar in description (age, hair, etc.) to me was found dead, and that mall was the last place she had been. It turned out that she had been taken from the parking lot, the same side I was parked at of that mall, at about the same time I was there in that parking lot. Now we can consider my not being kidnapped and murdered random chance or good luck, but when you add in that I was raised by an assertive mother in a large city and was taught to be aware of my surroundings, move in public with a sense of purpose and self confidence, and foremost to look out for my own safety - was it really random, or was it that my learned behavior influenced a murderer to decide against me as their victim? I don't know if he even saw me that day, but when he was caught he did say that he had been cruising the parking lot specifically to find a victim. If he did see me, then he made a choice to not try to take me, but my behavior was predetermined by my mother's decision to raise a strong independent daughter. I did not know until after the event so I was not making a choice to actively protect myself, or even thinking about protecting myself, I was just being myself, just going to/from the mall.
I don't believe everything is totally random, but I don't believe everything is predetermined, either. We are products of family dynamics and upbringing, environment, genetics, intelligence and education. Some is chance and some of it is determined by other factors - and every person has their own mix of each. I've had more than one of those obvious near miss type events in my life, so I have thought about it from that viewpoint, lol! I am not even sure I stayed on the point of the OP very well but your reply reminded me of this event. It was the one that led me to explore my own belief system because I realized just how near a miss I had.