Doomed to Fate

Although it can't really be argued whether or not Oedipus killed the king, I couldn't help but feeling sorry for him at how his situation turned out. Every single person that knew about the prophesy except the one shepherd that had pity for Oedipus did all they could to avoid the fate that the prophesy spoke of. Yet no matter how hard Oedipus tried to do the right thing, he could not escape that fate. When I first read this I could not help but think that this is simply unfair, that no matter what one does  in life, nothing they do can change what will inevitably happen. Still, that got me thinking. Does it work the same way for us? I know that question opens up a massive debate on predestination and free will and the space time continuum and that sort of thing, so I won't even go down that road. But one thing that this story did remind me of was at the end of the republic when Socrates tells the story of Er. When everyone is gathered in the common place and picks their new fate, that is it. No changing, no trading, no doing nothing except intentionally or unintentionally seeing that fate through to the day you die. I couldn't help but laugh for a second that if this was true for Oedipus, then man did he mess that decision up. Either way, I am a firm believer that this sort of thing is exactly what we as humans are not intended nor able to understand. Whatever will happen will happen, but we still make the choices.