Thursday, August 27, 2009

Stumbling

How come one can climb Everest heights with such a savoir-faire - and yet, sprain their ankles bumping into the curb while crossing the street?

Reminders:
Sir Francis Drake, after crossing half world, helping (?) Queen Elizabeth I defeat the Spanish Armada and taking to England riches beyond imagination, simply died of dysentery in Panama.

Alcibiades was one of the most important Athenians of his time, and had the fate of the polis in his hands more than once; he circulated among Athenians, Spartans and Persians, toying with their trust and hopes, playing the warmonger and hero at the same time, selling one to the other in a never-ending fashion - only to die surrounded by some petty road thieves.

Achilles, the greatest Greek like, ever, did it all - confronted the king of the kings, refused to fight over a silly issue (ok, I know, there was the whole honour thing, he couldn't just let Agamemnon do whatever he felt like to him), cried a river over the death of his lover/best friend Patroclus, had Hephaestus (only one of the Twelve Olympians) do a whole new armour for him, scared poor Hector - the greatest Trojan - out of his mind and dragged his dead body all around the walls of Troy, mercilessly. He was even portrayed by Brad Pitt! Aaaaand, how did he die? Oh yeah: from an arrow. Shot from very afar. By the most gutless Trojan, namely Paris. Aimed at his heel. [sighs...]

Henry VIII changed England's history forever; he received the title of Protector of the Faith by Pope Clement VII; he turned his country topsy-turvy with his love for Anne Boleyn, his wife's lady-in-waiting; broke up with the Roman Catholic Church just so he could divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry the damn girl - sending her some years later to execution; married another, who died; married a forth, whom he divorced; married a fifth, whom he had executed (just as her cousin Anne Boleyn!); married a sixth, who was only spared from execution through his death. Wives galore! Meanwhile, not satisfied in marrying, divorcing and executing all of them, he still made war to this and that country, and had to supress here and there the influence of the Protestant religion in his domains. His death? Some historians regard it as having been from syphilis, whereas others consider it was probably diabetes. Either way, a silly way to go.

It's just ludicrous to climb so high and stumble over such trifles, isn't it?...

1 comments:

Iris H. said...

Random quotes from wikipedia on Isadora Duncan:
- is considered by many to be the mother of modern dance
- barefoot, dressed in clinging scarves and faux-Grecian tunics ;) she created a primitivist style of improvisational dance to counter the rigid styles of the time. She was inspired by the classics, especially Greek myth ;)
- Duncan's fondness for flowing scarves which trailed behind her was the cause of her death in a freak automobile accident in Nice, France

Talk about stumbling...