Surviving a Tragedy

The Complete News Series : II

On occasion I'm inclined to dislike myself as a poet. In the Mahabarata the bard wrote that the whole world was at war. In the ' Charge of the Light Brigade ' the poet spoke of courage under fire in a situation in which every soldier died. Politically incorrect is what I say and certainly not the complete news.

 

If it was true, then historians appear to have overlooked the first world war in circa 500 BC that was fought with swords, clubs, axes, oars and daggers. And in the case of the charge by the cavalry, there were survivors of that conflict, indicating that not everyone died like a retelling of the apocalypse.

 

Such tales and legends on the scale of a colossus have a powerful effect on the minds of readers and goes on to produce peculiar conditions in the mindset of societies. The dictionary defines the word ' colossus ' as ' abnormally large and powerful ' and ' exceptional importance or reputation.' A person would say ' here's someone everybody trusts and if it turns out he's wrong, there'll be hell to pay.'

 

The hell that is referred to is anxiety. It’s a peculiar condition in the mind that resembles a switch … when someone says ' white ' our inclination is to think ' black.' It’s also the basis of the ' fight or flee ' impulse. In extreme cases it may morph into ' attack or defend but don't run away.' Here the individual's personality may have moved into another term in the English language altogether. That word is ' sociopath.'

 

That doesn't mean he is a bad person. In the logic of American film makers ' he is only a bad person with other people.'* That may refer to the fact that he can't rely on anyone else to heal him and has to heal himself. That of course is like a surgeon operating on himself … not gonna happen.

 

To heal we have to come to the appreciation that we need someone else's help. In the words of Zen, its ' using a thorn to take out another thorn.' As a result that help is brought to us in strange ways … by the environment … sometimes its medical … on occasion a loved one … society in general and so forth. The heroic portrayal of bards should therefore stand corrected … everyone out there today is a survivor and every hero gets help.

 

 

 

 

* Tombstone, Hollywood & Cinergi Pictures, 1993 - ' Now hold on … nobody is saying you can't carry a gun … you just can't carry a gun in town.'

1. Picture is the Colossus of Rhodes