Tales of Tenth Grade

What remained of his eye was slathered all over his hand. It oozed out from betwixt clenched fingers, dripping a milky trail unto the barren earth. Blood poured ceaselessly from his eye socket, trails of crimson and carmine running together to smear a reddened mask along his face. Had he been able to feel, Oedipus would have been in great agony. But alas, he was numb.  He fled. Into the desert, into forgiving nothingness. The skyline of Thebes had long since faded behind him, sinking into the horizon until it lost all definitive shape. Yet he stumbled onwards, the only pervasive thought on his mind relentlessly tugging him away . All he had to his name were the grimy clothes on his back and a fate fit for the cruelest, crudest of men. He had lost his kingdom, his daughters, his honor. What did one have if he had lost even his honor and valor? And so he did all that one could in his position: he ran.   Death was preferable. Indeed, it was the desire for dea...

The idea of fate confuses me. I don't really understand how something will happen no matter what you do. It just seems very unlikely. I think we're constantly making choices that lead to occurrences. We make so many decisions a day that it seems impossible that fate can find a way around it all.  Awhile ago, I saw something called the Butterfly Effect, which doesn't exactly relate to fate but it makes sense to me. The idea is that a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a tornado on the other side of the world. Essentially, small changes can have large impacts. In my head, this connects with the thousands of tiny decisions we subconsciously make each day. There are people I've met or things that have happened and it feels like it was meant to be but they're just a bunch of coincidences that had the ability to change everything. Thinking about it, there are reasons that can explain everything. For example, I met one of my closest friends a few years ago a...

Fate. It's funny how in so many regions, so many areas of the world, the thought of human control is debated. Not just in society, but in our own lives, our own choices. Perhaps this was a way to reduce blame or guilt. Perhaps this eases stress, knowing that whatever is meant to be will be. Some reject the concept of fate, feeling too out of control. I don't know if there's a god, if there are beings watching over us, determining our every move as if we are puppets. Regardless of whether or not there is a god, we seem to have little free will. Think about it: we were born into a world we did not choose with parents we did not choose, only able to respond to stimulus beyond our control with small reflexes (such as crying and screaming) that we do not have control over either. Then this environment and these people and our impulses shape a childhood, which will eventually shape our fears and interests and our own personality. These experiences in our childhood, as well as...