Last week in class we finished up Beowulf and started reading Oedipus Rex. In the last part of Beowulf, king Beowulf is old and not as strong as he used to be. A dragon attacks his kingdom and he goes with 12 other men to kill the dragon. He kills the dragon but in in exchange he loses his life. The story shows that even though you're a great hero, you're still only human and humans die.

The other story was more complex. It was about King Oedipus who was a king. There was a curse in his kingdom of Thebes and the only way for the curse to be lifted was to find the man who killed the former king. Tiresias the blind prophet tells him that he was the one who killed the former king. Oedipus was furious, but then starts to realize something. It is known that there was a prophecy that the prince of Thebes was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Even though Oedipus was abandoned on the hill side, he was raised as an orphan and never knew he was a prince.

So knowing that he fulfilled the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother, a question has risen. Is it possible to run away from destiny? This is a hard question to answer because it's very complex. Maybe its the fact that you're told that something is going to happen, therefore you try your best to not make it happen. But in reality, it's because you know what will happen, you drive yourself so in the end it does happen.

We only know of destiny from old stories and modern television and movies. In the shows sometimes when someone can see the future, they can alter it. But other times, when they know the future and try to change it, the outcome still happens and it was because they tried to change the future, the outcome stayed as it is.

Personally I really don't know what to believe in. I mean its a nice idea that I'm meant for great things, and that everything I do will lead me to fulfilling my destiny. But at the same time, destiny can be what I make it to be. Like if I chose my destiny to make a difference in this world, then more than likely I'll have fulfilled my destiny if I worked hard enough. I don't think destiny is as concrete like you're destined to die in an airplane accident or you're destined to be a lawyer. I think it's more on the lines of "I'm destined to change the world for the good of mankind" or "I was destined to always make this man/woman happy, no matter what". Maybe if we were to view destiny like that, it wouldn't be as complicated.

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