Franklin D. Roosevelt, a president so popular that he served four terms, once said: “Men are prisoners not of fate but rather of their own mind. By this he meant that our decisions and actions are not decided by a higher power, of which we have no knowledge, but rather by our own imperfect minds. Any bad decisions you make were not “meant” to be made by you, they were simply made by you and you must accept the repercussions of your decisions. Fate didn't make a choice for Romeo or Juliet, and fate never "made" a choice for anyone. Fate did not plunge the knife into Juliet's heart or force Romeo to drink the poison. The deaths were caused by free will and him alone. All of this could have been avoided if those around Romeo and Juliet, like Capulet, had made separate choices and if Romeo and Juliet themselves had made different choices. If Romeo and Mercutio had made the simple choice not to spoil the party, Romeo would never have met Juliet and their lives would have continued normally. If Capulet had chosen not to bring forward the wedding date, the brothers' letter would have been delivered to Romeo on time and everything would have gone perfectly as planned. They could have just chosen to live their lives normally and tried to forget themselves. Although more difficult for Romeo, due to his complete infatuation with Juliet's looks, both of their lives would have continued, instead of ending abruptly in a very tragic way. Juliette would have married Paris and although she would be sad at first, motherhood would probably bring her happiness. Romeo would have moved on to another girl after Rosaline, as he did so quickly with Juliet, and his new life would have been as happy as Juliet's, both never knowing the other's face or their unknown love. It can be said that fate brought them to this point and found themselves in this position, a position in which there was no other choice but suicide. I believe, however, that the situation they found themselves in was determined by the choices and actions they made. Their situation could easily have been resolved by other choices made by them and those around them, such as Capulet leaving the wedding date unchanged..