Destiny

I was reading Invisible Cities by Marco Calvino in between lessons one day and sitting right beside me was one of my mates who happened to be reading Kurt Vonnegut novel. We checked each others' books out. Invisible Cities is a piece modern literature text filled with symbols and metaphors. Calvino used imaginery cities to conjure representations of life and its realities. There were certain themes which have managed to stay stuck in my mind. There was one city most sought after and desired. However, the people who seek for this city realise that although it was the city they were finding all their life, it no longer felt the same because the idealism in their youth had vanished. The goals we strive for in our youth are not the ones we wish for when we grow older. As a teenager, I wonder if our goals are for naught due to their ephemeral nature. To stick to a long term goal and reach it, only to realise that it isn't what we want anymore is a sad disappointment. It's tragic.

Invisible Cities details a fictional conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. Polo, being an emissary was updating the Great Khan on the cities conquered and explored. Khan wondered why Polo didn't go through the usual report of food, troops etc. (because this book is literature!) so Polo would inevitably manage to steer the conversation topic away from that by mentioning something else, one being how the listeners' ears determines what he wants to hear. Yet in doing so, he states a true fact of life. The same story told varies as the people listening choose what they want to hear. Teachers, politicians, army generals and all other kinds of people will never be satisfied until their ears receive what they are contented with.

So enough with Invisible Cities. I laud the book for it's overwhelming variety of imaginery cities that the late author could have possibly conceived while including a thought provoking feature in each one. Admittedly so, I found it hard to understand everything that was brought across. I told my friend exactly that and he replied that you don't need to understand everything. Eventually, we landed on the topic of destiny. He shared how books like the watchmen and vonnegut ones are meaningful as they question critical themes in life. So he went- if we know our final destiny and no matter what we do, we end up at that final point, then what meaning is there to life? Or if I know that I am destined to do something wrong... will that make me a bad person? Did that make Peter the apostle a bad person when he denied Christ 3 times? To this, I let you decide for I still do not know the answer.