Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Knowing the Man


I once heard a great story that I think sums up the nature of human relations. It goes a little something like this:

Once upon a time there was a young man driving his carriage along a narrow road. The young man was an orphan who never knew his father. Still that did not deter him from being a good person. As he is driving down the road, he sees an old man coming towards him driving a carriage of his own. The old man had no son (or so he thought); but that did not deter him from being a good person as well. As the two good men meet in the middle of this narrow road, they get into an argument over which good man should move aside to let the other good man pass. In the heat of the exchange, the young man, who is quite angry at this point, picks up a rock from the side of the road and strikes the old man in his vulnerable head; killing him.

After reading this story, I suspect that you'd chalked this up to another case of road rage. You'd be correct in thinking that. Still, others may recognize this story from the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex; where Oedipus unwittingly fulfills an oracle's prophecy by murdering his long lost father.

Do you think that Oedipus would've killed, hurt, or even raised a rock to this old man if he knew it was his father?

The moral of the story: get to know the other man.

- ACL

9 "Insiders" spoke their mind. Join in...:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. Very compelling post.

Anonymous said...

Was never much into Greek mythology, but this is an interesting scenario.

heiresschild said...

food for thought!

The H.C. said...

Hey Dre,
I don't usually like forwarding things, but this comic reminded me of you. I hope it gives you a grin. Great post by the way.

The H.C. said...

OOPs forgot the link; http://www.comics.com/wash/candorville/archive/candorville-20080116.html

Andre said...

Funny comic! I'd had to see Nelly, Cam'ron, and T.I. actually have POSITIVE messages for a change. :)

heiresschild said...

so Andre, are you the man to know in the moral of the story?

are you going to take the online Jeopardy test next week? i am.

Andre said...

Hi Sylv,

I wouldn't necessarily call myself "the other man"; though there have been times where I've been in pretty heated spots because of a lack of understanding from either side. Most of the time, I'm speaking to myself in my posts as much as I am the next person.

To your second point, I registered for the Jeopardy online test, but I haven't heard anything else since. I'll keep you posted...

heiresschild said...

hi Andre, you should have received a confirmation email after you registered. so on the day of your test, just log on about 20 minutes before your test time. there'll be a clock and when it counts down to zero, it's test time.

my test is tomorrow, tuesday at 8pm here on the east coast. i don't think i'm ready yet for t.v. jeopardy, but i'm still going to take the test for more practice. i know you'll do well 'cause you're smart.