You have the most amazing timing!!baseballchica03September 30 2002, 14:33:12 UTC
Ok, so we're reading Macbeth in Dowling's Shakespeare class right now. We just started it today, which meant a Rain Man Quiz, meaning hardly any time to discuss, but enough to bring up questions that we can talk about over the next two weeks while we study the play. One of the questions posed was regarding the witches. (I don't know if you've read Macbeth or not, but in the beginning, these witches tell Macbeth that he will become Thane of Cawdor and then King of Scotland. By chance, he becomes Thane of Cawdor, then he kills the King so that HE can become king.) Anyway, the question was something along the lines of, would Macbeth have followed the path he did if the witches hadn't told him his future? Would he have murdered the King? Or would he have been able to become King some other way? OR, would it never have happened at all?
Similarly, I don't know if you have heard of it, but I have taken to watching The Dead Zone on USA. It's a new series based on a book by Steven King (who I usually really don't like, but I'm kind of hooked on this). Anyway, Johnny, the main character, has visions, mostly of the future, but sometimes of stuff that has already happened. In my favorite episode, Johnny gets caught up in a bank robbery. He has visions of what is going to happen, and does things that will affect the outcome, so that no one dies/gets hurt. I think it's a really cool episode. Anyway, through most of the series, he stresses how things (ie: the future) can easily be changed.
So, even if you knew when/where/how you were going to die, it wouldn't matter. You could quit smoking so that you wouldn't die of lung cancer. (Did you ever see the movie where that dude talks to his dad in the past over the ham radio?) You could not step in front of that bus. Or, you could kill yourself beforehand to save yourself the suffering you would incur with cancer or Alzheimer's. Simply knowing could make all the difference.
I don't believe in psychics. I think they're silly. And I don't think I would care to know what life has in store for me. Sure, I'd never be surprised. I wouldn't have stitches right now because I could have avoided the boxes. But I'd never be surprised by anything, either. And what's the fun in that?
Similarly, I don't know if you have heard of it, but I have taken to watching The Dead Zone on USA. It's a new series based on a book by Steven King (who I usually really don't like, but I'm kind of hooked on this). Anyway, Johnny, the main character, has visions, mostly of the future, but sometimes of stuff that has already happened. In my favorite episode, Johnny gets caught up in a bank robbery. He has visions of what is going to happen, and does things that will affect the outcome, so that no one dies/gets hurt. I think it's a really cool episode. Anyway, through most of the series, he stresses how things (ie: the future) can easily be changed.
So, even if you knew when/where/how you were going to die, it wouldn't matter. You could quit smoking so that you wouldn't die of lung cancer. (Did you ever see the movie where that dude talks to his dad in the past over the ham radio?) You could not step in front of that bus. Or, you could kill yourself beforehand to save yourself the suffering you would incur with cancer or Alzheimer's. Simply knowing could make all the difference.
I don't believe in psychics. I think they're silly. And I don't think I would care to know what life has in store for me. Sure, I'd never be surprised. I wouldn't have stitches right now because I could have avoided the boxes. But I'd never be surprised by anything, either. And what's the fun in that?
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