Don't take courtship advice from the Greeks

Greek mythology is so screwed up.

Apollo made fun of the god Eros, so as consequence Eros shot him with a golden arrow to make him fall hopelessly (obsessively) in love with Daphne, the Naiad daughter of the river god Pineios. Daphne, in turn, was shot with a leaden arrow, which quite literally hardened her heart to love, especially the variety that involved Apollo. Apollo stalked her to the ends of the earth; running away from him, Daphne prayed to her father to save her from this creep, and, in a moment of incredible generosity, he transformed her into a tree. A laurel tree, to be specific. Now, some versions of the story I read said Apollo actually took the leaves off of this tree (creepy) and made wreathes out of them; others said he made an effort to preserve the tree. Regardless, the laurel tree was from that day considered a symbol of the god Apollo.

 

Maybe I can stretch the topic of ‘eternal youth’ to talk about death.  I think about death quite often – that might sound depressing, but I find that thinking about my own mortality prompts me to do a little more in this moment than sit on the couch and eat potato chips. Life is, as they say, short – fifteen years sounds like a long time to the ear, but then you move right through it and realize years can feel like little more than extended seconds. When I was little, the thought of me being seventeen seemed so distant and unknowable, but now I feel like I was that little girl just yesterday. I know it will not be long before I am old enough to have children of my own, and from that point I will be middle-aged, and not long after that I will look like a dried prune. Point is, death is not that far off, and it really can happen any day. You never know if you’ll be that one in ten thousand that gets hit by a car and dies of internal bleeding while walking to school. You never know if you’ll be that one to get the rare case of blood cancer. None of us can bank on tomorrow, and as such, we should enjoy today to its full extent while we still have it.

Speaking of which, I like to consult the wisdom of the late great Christopher Hitchens on mortality, a man who looked his imminent death from cancer in the face and refused to fear it. R.I.P., Hitch. We miss you.

http://www.amazon.com/Mortality-Christopher-Hitchens/dp/1455502758

 

 

ew get da fuk away from me apollo i can do better z snap