"How was I able to overcome the life that was handed to me? 

Karma and kismet? 

Action and fate. 

God’s grace and human will.

Karma and Kismet is a story of change, adaptation, and transformation rooted in the mire of a dysfunctional family and a sick society. Wrenched from home at age thirteen and dispatched to a remote area where I couldn’t understand or speak the language, gnawing questioning began to surface inside me: Who am I? Where and with whom do I belong? At first imposed by my parents and society, then by choice, a series of cross-cultural immersions deepened this existential inquiry. In time, signifying a letting go of the past and the emergence of new beginnings, my prior names fell away and were replaced by new ones. Several characters in these pages are no longer with us—may they rest in peace—but some are still here. A few living character’s real names have been changed."

Michael Shandler Ed.D.