Ever read the story of Oedipus?  That story is absolutely incredible to me.  To summarize it, in Greek mythology, Oedipus was a king who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother.  There is much more to the story, but I will be discussing only this part.  As a young man, he received a prophecy from an oracle, stating that he would kill his father and marry his mother.  Fearing this prophecy, he left his home and moved far away.  Well to make a long story short, he fulfilled this prophecy by trying his absolute best to avoid it.  So taking a deeper look at this, what exactly does it mean?  It reminds me so much of an old french proverb that says: One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.  Exactly the same principle if you think about it.  Oedipus tries to hard not to fulfill this prophecy, he runs away.  Almost like he is fleeing from his destiny.  So that brings us to the concept of destiny.  Is destiny real?  Destiny is basically your fate.  Do you have a predetermined path?  And if you do, would you want to hear it?

Analyzing the Oedipus situation a little deeper, you have to wonder if he would have fulfilled that prophecy in another way had the oracle not warned him.  This is called a self-fulfilling prophecy.  A 20th century sociologist named Robert Merton actually coined that term.  Dare I go back to the movie “The Matrix” for a comparison and example of another self-fulfilling prophecy?  If you’ve seen it, you’ll definitely remember this scene:

The Oracle: I’d ask you to sit down, but you’re not going to anyway. And don’t worry about the vase.
Neo: What vase?
[Neo knocks a vase to the floor]
The Oracle: That vase.
Neo: I’m sorry.
The Oracle: I said don’t worry about it. I’ll get one of my kids to fix it.
Neo: How did you know?
The Oracle: What’s really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn’t said anything.

Another picture perfect example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Had she not said anything, Neo wouldn’t have knocked down that vase.  She even hints at it on her last statement about it.  You have to wonder if the creators had the story of Oedipus in mind when they wrote “The Oracle” into the movie.  To me, scenes like that are my absolute favorite.  They boggle you, they make you think.  As a human, I think we almost like not being able to figure things out.  I think that is one thing that drives us in life.  In my opinion, we encounter self-fulfilled prophecies like this every single day in our lives.  A good day versus a bad day simply depends on someone’s point of view on the situation.  A person who thinks he/she is having a terrible day for example, could run out of fuel and be forced to hitch a ride with his/her neighbor or a friend, or even take the train.  Most likely, this person’s day will only get worse as it progresses, because this situation in their mind, is a series of bad occurrences before they day has even begun.  For an example, snapping at his/her coworker, resulting in being scolded by his/her boss, or even possibly being fired.  But to look at the flip side, if that person was optimistic about the situation, he/she could take the bus, possibly meet a person that they had never seen, that turned out to be someone that opened a HUGE door for them (possibly a business opportunity, etc…) and become rich off  the deal, whereas a pessimistic person wouldn’t have bothered speaking simply because they assumed their day couldn’t get any worse.  So comparing the two situations, which would you rather?  Being fired, or coming across a huge opportunity?  I believe we make our own beds in life.  Things that happen to us depend on our attitude, and how we treat people.  A very inspiring thought indeed.  I believe the story of Oedipus can teach us many things, but the main thing would be to live life without looking back, and without fear, because when it boils down to it, life is pretty short in the scheme of things.