Journey to the philosophical

Two Saturdays ago I picked up V and M at the Tae Kwon Do studio after they were finished testing for their (green belt with) blue stripe. I got there at 10:10 and they were done at 11:30. The TKD master, at the end of the testing session, talked for a few minutes about what TKD has meant to him over the last 50 years, what he's learned from it and what kind of an impact it can have on a student's (kids and adults, men and women of various belt levels) life if they keep up with it.

As I was listening to his speech, he ended with a very thought provoking question. He said that life is a journey in which we all travel, which everyone present seemed to be in agreement with. He then asked: "Does the journey make the person or does the person make the journey?"

What I think he was getting at is simple, yet does not yield a simple answer.

I understood his question more on a personal level, as if he was asking me if I let events in my life shape me or do I shape the events in my life?

Right now, I have no good answer for this question. At least not an answer I'm satisfied with or willing to share right now. Maybe I will at some point but not yet, anyway. I need to turn the question around in my head a bit more, I think.

So I will toss the question back at you, dear reader. How would you answer the question?

In this life, does your journey make you or do you make your journey?