Poignant read. Nevertheless, I believe that destiny is variable, not set in stone. For life to be preordained, it requires a malevolent higher power who gladly ordained people to be, homeless, killed, raped etc. It's my belief that we are ordained with the power to determine destiny, and that the actions/choices we make determine our variable destinies. Destiny is derived from our actions instead of our actions being derived from destiny.
Yeah... our lives are a sum total of all our decisions.
Nothing is set in stone indeed. This is something we all need to learn.