What goes before is the reason for what will come after. What is now is simply the answer to choices made before. Fate is the consequence of where society, nature, God, and our own decisions, have brought us. It is the answer to my favorite question, "Why?" For example: Give me a reason as to why should we leave here. Explanation might be: If we do not leave here, it will be our fate to die here. In this explanation, our fate, the answer, bodes the question of why and reveals the reason for our fate.
I wanted to be so much in my life. I had childhood dreams of being a fireman, policeman, pilot, and such. My vision was so bad as to preclude such careers from my path. My "destiny," the explanation that would be the answer to my living, would lie elsewhere.
To read more of my post on destiny, please follow this link to my blog, The Path: Destiny Is Not a Reason, Its Perspective