Fateful Pathway

(Picture taken outside of Tabler Quad, at the end of one path from the Tabler Steps.)


(Reminded me of the forest where Oedipus killed Laiius.)





Fate.

What is it exactly? I've always questioned what my "fate" was.
What path is the one that should I take to my eventual end?
What kind of path would it be? Dark? Bright? Fun? Boring? Dangerous? Easy?
Its so many things and yet we don't really think much of it.

It was the fate of Laiius, Jocasta's husband, that was told by an oracle, which led Jocasta and her husband to do something so inhumane yet so, reasonable.

This fate?

Laiius was to be killed, murdered, by their own son. And it was because they were told this, that they gave their son to a stranger, who pierced both of the three-day old's feet (Oedipus' feet) with a blade of iron. This stranger was then told to leave their son alone to die in the wilderness, but the stranger took pity on the baby and gave it to the king of a distant kingdom. Yet, it was because Jocasta and her husband did this inhumane act, that the prophecy began to piece itself together.

Now all grown up, Oedipus, filled with rage after he learned he was to kill his father, went out into the forest. He did this in order to prevent himself from killing his father, without realizing that the man who he thought was his father, was actually not.

In the forest, Oedipus encountered a group of men who then angered him even more. And without another thought, Oedipus slew the whole band, not knowing his real father was among that band of men.

How worse could fate have been answered?
How scary is it that fate was answered without the person knowing it?
And the worst of it all, Jocasta and Laiius could have reach the fated event in such a more pleasant manner.
But instead, they committed an inhumane act, leaving their baby to a stranger and ordering this stranger to kill their baby for them.

When I think about the events that happened after Oedipus fulfilled the prophecy, I realize that those events could have been prevented if Jocasta and Laiius just accepted their fate.
Oedipus could have not killed Laiius on purpose but by accident, maybe while hunting.
Oedipus have killed the Sphinx while wondering, and thus would not have taken over the emptied throne and married his mother.

This get me to wonder what would happen if we were told of our fates. Would we accept it or deny it and try to prevent it?
Are we even able to prevent FATE?

Fate.

Such a simple word, yet it has so much power over our lives.
It's something that can't be changed.

But the path that we choose to the fated event can be.
Its not the final arrival of the event that matters the most, but the paths that we choose to lead us to it.