The Odyssey Ch. 12

The part of Chapter 12 that really jumps out at me is the slaying of the Sun's kine.  Last night (with the storm of the century brewing, nonetheless) I watched the story of the Greely Party on TV.  It was an American expedition, led by Greely, whose aim was to go further north into the arctic than anyone had before.  Twenty-five men were dropped off with plenty of supplies, with the promise of being picked up the following year.  During this time they collected scientific data.  Due to ice in the way, their rescue party couldn't reach them and they decided to travel to a place where there was less ice in the way of their rescue.  I can't remember some of the details, but for part of this journey they actually floated on a sheet of ice till they reached their destination.  Like in Odysseus's journey, many of the men died along the way.  About three years later, they were rescued.

When the men were found, there were dead strewn about the camp.  The survivors were starving and hadn't had the energy to bury them.  When the frozen corpses were examined, it was found that pieces of flesh had been cut off and the six survivors were accused of cannibalism.  For me, this seems a horrifying, but necessary thing to do.  You're on your deathbed because of starvation and there is meat available...the body of your friend.  I mean, I couldn't blame the living for staying alive off of my dead body.  The press had a heyday with this and the glory of the returning men was overshadowed by the idea that they had eaten their buddies.  I guess this is why I can sympathize with Odysseus's men slaying the Sun's cows.  Perfectly good meat there...I'd rather eat it and maybe die than definitely die of starvation.  It seems that there wasn't a good way out for these men.

Greely also had a wife at home.  Her continued nagging of the navy and getting the press involved forced the government to send the rescue mission that brought her husband back alive.  Why wasn't Penelope trying to get Odysseus home?  Telemachus finally goes out to find word of his father, but Penelope has nothing to do with it.

One last thought:  It seems like recently, I've really been a POS.  All I do is sit and watch TV.  Last night after loathing my life, I almost threw it out the window.  What a waste of time.  I have so much I want to accomplish in life, and watching babies being born on TLC won't get me there.  It's easy to blame the winter weather (the gods) for keeping me inside, but there's plenty to be doing in my apartment.  I'm gonna have to drag myself off of the land of the Lotus-eaters!