Fate vs Choice in Oedipus the King

Growing up, I loved playing cards. It some how made sense to me, the randomness of it all. Some say that poker is a game of luck. Some argue that it’s all about strategy. I liked the combination of the two. You’re dealt a randomized hand over which you have no control, and you play. You’re given the option to fold, bluff, and even cheat. You never know what the flop, turn, or river will be, but we all take turns at being the dealer. This tension between individual action and fate is a central theme in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King . While free choices, such as Oedipus’s decision to pursue knowledge of his identity, are significant, Oedipus’ so called “fate” is responsible his incest and the murder his father. In my own life, I have found that life is like a game of cards. We’ve no control over the cards we’re dealt, but how we play the game is 100% in our control.
My deck of cards is something I have battled for most of my life.   I was born into a white, upper-middle class family. I had two parents who loved each other and who would support me through anything I wanted to do in life. Shouldn’t I have been happy? The truth is, it only ever made me feel guilty. I didn’t understand why I was somehow “chosen” to be my parent’s daughter. My mom had a miscarriage before I was born, and my whole life, I’ve been told that my sister didn’t make it for a reason. My whole life, I’ve been told that she didn’t make it so I could. Because of this, doctors and teachers and mediums told me that I was “destined for greatness.” I didn’t think I was destined for anything. I didn’t understand how I could be “destined for greatness” if I didn’t feel good enough to get out of bed in the morning. One summer, I visited the bayus on a service project to teach children in poverty how to read. It was in the eyes of those children that I saw something I had never understood before: genuine happiness. I had always been a smiler, always been a giver, but I was never happy with myself. I didn’t...