Fate Sux Essay, Research Paper

Fate

It is a lovely Tuesday afternoon when our hero, Benny, meets his buddy Adrian on his way back home. Benny is very excited. He has just finished reading Oedipus Rex AND talked about the experience in First Year Seminar class, but he just can t get enough so he unloads his thoughts on poor Adrian.

Benny: Hey Adrian! Dude, I just came from class. Man, it was like so friggin cool. Like there was this guy, you know, Oedipus and he s a king, but then a lot of shit happens. He kills his dad and fucks his mom and guess what man! It was his fate! Those dudes up in the sky, those gods told him!

Adrian: Yeah, I read that some time ago, but it s total bullshit, that whole fate thing.

B: What? ARE YOU INSANE? Oedipus opened my eyes. Now everything is so understandable, like why my whole life is the way it is and you know . ? Fate controls my future!

A: Oh! So you believe that three women somewhere floating around control our whole life?

B: Dude! They don t control us. They just set certain goals for us in life, but we can do whatever we want. And as long as we are good citizens, bad fate will be postponed a lot. So you can still do what you want! Just look at criminals and drug addicts. They are bad, bad people, and therefore die young because some universal power doesn t like their wicked life style. You know it is just like in this Oedipus tale. He tried to escape his fate. Those were his actions, but he failed, cuz sooner or later fate comes and gets you!

A: Criminals die cause they play with guns, and addicts die because they pump so much toxic shit into their bodies. Now listen. You sound so ridiculous. There aren t a group of woman in the galaxy deciding your fate and gods watching over you. I am in control of my own life and actions. The world consists of obstacles and media I consciously interact with. I have no fate. I’ve been shit on because someone chose to shit on me and I allowed myself to be shit on. Everything good I have was given to me by the grace or guile of a person, dropped into my lap by chance, or taken by force by myself. I am in control. There is NO god or fate!

B: Calm down, man. You don t have to believe in the Greek theory of fate, but what do you say about character being fate? That s what my teacher believes in.

A: Uh? That character is fate crap? That s nonsense. Don t believe in everything your teacher says. He s only human too. Anyway, your character affects only so little in your life. If someone walks up to you and hits you in the face, then is it your character that did that? Or you die in an earthquake! Sure, you chose to be in the place, but a natural disaster has nothing to do with your character affecting your outcome of it. There are so many random things occurring in ones life that are non-character related. Your character only leads your life in a VERY general direction, and that is not fate.

B: But if it leads you in a very general direction, wouldn t you say that IS fate if it determines your general outcome.

A: Well, with a VERY general direction I meant VERY general direction. Very general as in you gonna die sooner or later. But your character doesn t really write your future, as fate does, because there are too many random things happening to one. Fate is like, First you are going to kill daddy, then you ll have sex with your mom, then you ll rape your own eyes. Character is like, Hmmmm let s see what happens to me today, I feel like having sex with my wife, who also happens to be my wife. Let s see what happens after that. You know, what I am saying is that character doesn t pre determine your life. Your character just decides on actions according on the circumstances of a particular setting. I do not consider that fate. The word fate comes from the Latin word Fatum which means What has been spoken . Fate is being spoken before stuff happens. Character speaks when stuff happens – quite a difference in my opinion.

B: Hmmmm, Yeah, I guess my teacher is a dumbass. Well, I ll stick with my believes and you with yours. I ll see ya later tonight at Mike s place. He s having a little party. Remember it s his birthday.

A: Yeah, true. He s finally allowed to legally purchase alcohol. Man this is going to be a big mess at his house. Anyway, talk to you later.

After a week Benny was found starved to death in his room. A gipsy had told him that he would have many children, so Benny assumed he was going to live a long and happy life. Since he believed that life is fated he just slept for a week without eating. Adrian, on the other hand, managed to build his own very successful business and died 84 years later, leaving an inheritance of billions to his children.