People Addicted to Statistics

I was recently chatting with one of my classmates and she told me that one of her pet peeves about people is that they base their life of of statistics.  I agree.  There are a decent amount of people who do this now a days. They claim things like "Oh my parent's an alcoholic, so most likely I will be one, too.  I may just not fight it and be one also."   Or the say things possibly less extreme like, "We lose to them every year. We may as well give up now, and forfeit."  To these people I have to say: you are not a statistic.  You are a human being and you have the power to change what happens to you.  You are not being forced to follow the path of the statistic.  All they state is what is common in that subject area. Everyone is different, so maybe you aren't the common one.  Nobody is tying you to a chair, and forcing you to become an alcoholic or to lose the game.  87% of statistics are made up anyways, right? Why on Earth would you base your life off of something like that? You have the power to change your future. Don't follow statistics. They are just pathetic excuses for not trying. Live a happy life, but realize that it takes effort.  If you are going to ignore this post and continue to base your life off of statistics. at least, keep it to yourself and don't parade it around in everyone faces.