Icarus Debunked
Estimated reading time: 3.2 minutes (give or take)
To wing your course along the middle air;
If low, the surges wet your flagging plumes;
If high, the sun the melting wax consumes.
Ovid
((((((((((()))))))))))
Most of us are familiar with the end of the story of Daedalus and Icarus.
If I tell you about the prequel now, it will take another hour.
For those of you who may not appreciate the nuances of Greek mythology, I am dropping you near the end of this story.
I will add a rough summary of the prequel by separate post in a few days for those of you seeking bonus points.
Why is this Important?
I have been relying on the metaphor of Icarus’ hubris for years as a lawyer; a mediator; a Bodhisattva; a mensch-in-training; and a lover and user of parables, fables, and morality tales.
It’s the middle way, grasshopper!
That is the solution to so many of our problems, including self-inflicted, unforced errors in living.[1]
High flyers always pay a price. [2]
No wisdom tradition or belief system disputes the law (or virtue) of moderation.
New information has come to light, however, that casts doubt on the story of the wax-winged, brash young Icarus.
Could I have been wrong for so long?
More importantly, setting my petty ego aside, is this another cold case that needs reopening?
What Happened?
For reasons somewhat explained in more detail in the prequel, around 2000 BCE, King Minos of Crete incarcerated Daedalus and his son, Icarus, in a tower somewhere (no, not “Trump Tower.”)
Father and son set off to escape their imprisonment with MacGyver-like homemade wings. [3]
Daedalus was in his 70s.
I can only imagine the upper body strength it would have taken to navigate a couple of feather-wax wings over a body of water for however many miles.
It was now-or-never time.
Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high or too low.
Icarus got what my father would have called, “too big for his britches.”
The hubris bug bit him.
He flew too high.
He crashed and died.
The official coroner’s report said “death by failing to heed wise advice from wise father.”
Others Who Flew Too High
As Icarus proved, flying too high in life may not be a small gamble; the consequences can be fatal. In addition to our young friend, Icarus, a few other examples for the purpose of anecdotal research (in no particular order):
· Socrates
· Alexander the Great
· Julius Caesar
· Napoleon
· Custer
· Rasputin
· The Romanovs
· Yamamoto
· Amelia Earhart
· Hitler
· Mussolini
· Bill Clinton
· Ken Lay
· JFK
· Marilyn Monroe
· Abraham Lincoln
· John Wilkes Booth
· Robert E. Lee
· Sam Cooke
· John Lennon
· Janis Joplin
· Jim Morrison
· Jimi Hendrix
· Richard Nixon
· Elvis
· Malcolm X
· MLK
· Ted Bundy
· Bernie Madoff
· David Petraeus
· Ellen DeGeneres
· Tupac?
· The Unnamed martyred for drugs and music.
· The Unnamed heroes of battle who foolishly attacked when they should have defended.
DO WE SEE A PATTERN HERE?
Fly too low - you have soggy wings.
Fly too high - your wings melt.
That’s it.
Right?
Not exactly!
Debunked
If I say “Neil deGrasse Tyson,” does that ring a bell for you?
Neil deGrasse Tyson is making it his mission in life to explain astro-physics to plain, dumb people like me.
Neil has a new book: To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery.
Smart-ass Neil talks about Icarus in his book; he talks about the metaphor that I have OBVIOUSLY BEEN USING INCORRECTLY FOR THE LAST 35 YEARS OR SO.
He simply, and, perhaps, smugly, points out:
AS WE RISE IN THE ATMOSPHERE, WE GET COLDER, NOT HOTTER!
OUCH AND DUH!
had Icarus indeed flown closer to the Sun, his body and wings, far from melting, would have frozen on ascent and thereby doomed him to that same fatal tumble. [4]
This is when I do my lunacy laugh!
Just to drive another nail in my metaphor’s coffin, he pointed out that, given the wing span required, Icarus “could never have achieved liftoff to escape Crete in the first place.” [5]
Ouch – again!
Bottom line
Live in moderation,
but never trust a Greek bearing metaphors.
*****
Should the death of Icarus be reexamined?
If his wings froze instead of melted, wouldn’t there be puddles of former ice for forensics?
*******
That’s all we have time for today, kiddies!
I should warn you, I have drafted the prequel, and it is raunchy!
And now for a word from our sponsors!
[1] There are situations in which the middle way, the path of moderation, may not be appropriate. Physical abuse cases, unprovoked violence, abuse of power, both political and financial.
[2] My father used to say, “All gamblers die broke.” He knew enough of them to be an expert on the subject.
[3] Wings worthy of Paul McCartney. Never mind!
[4] P. 24.
[5] And, yet, if there is any truth at all to the myth, his father got off, made it to his destination and lived long and prospered.