Made It Come True

The story of Oedipus from Greek mythology is one of the most famous cautionary tales ever told. In order to prevent a prophecy from coming true, Oedipus was abandoned as a baby.

Unaware of his true parentage, he indeed ended up killing his father and marrying his mother, thus fulfilling the prophecy he sought to avoid.

Oedipus inadvertently made it come true. Today, I want to look at a few examples from history where things happen in spite of (or because of) a very deliberate attempt to avoid them.

For our first example, we need to travel back in time.

Just after the conclusion of World War I, Europe was reeling from the devastation.

I’ve written quite a bit about John Maynard Keynes, who was widely considered one of the great economic thinkers of the day. If you indulge me here, I’ll write some more about him during this pivotal moment.

Keynes was a key participant in the discussions that led up to the Treaty of Versailles, but unlike the rest of the committee he was on, he saw that s…