Is this going to be on the final?
: The Olympics coverage is taking me back to the hell of sixth grade. Oh, how I hated Greek myths!
8 responses to “Is this going to be on the final?”
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My first Olympic-viewing experience was 1972, when I was six.
“Mommy, why are men with hoods and guns on the Olympics all day?”
Usually, the Olympics are lame. But it’ll be great if they make it through the whole thing with the only controversy being which athletes are banned for performance-enhancing drugs. -
A sixth grader could hardly be blamed for not recognizing the value of the Greek Myths.
But surely you have since realized that the art and literature of Western Civilization right up to the present day is much richer with such knowledge as background.
Virtually all those educated before the 1940’s or so had a common understanding of these stories and oblique references lose their meanings for modern observers.
But in spite of the fact that so few can appreciate classical art and literature through the early 20th Century this is hardly a Dark Age. It is all on the Internet for anyone interested. I suspect that there are very few sixth graders though. -
I loved Greek mythology, but it was presented to us as candy in Latin class. The day after a test our Latin teacher would spend the hour telling us stories from Greek mythology. We weren’t tested on them, but there would be an extra credit question about mythology on the next test. I loved it, but I can see how being forced to learn it could destroy one’s interest.
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Jeff, are you kidding? I taught myself to read in 2nd grade (after failing miserably in 1st grade) with Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.
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The Olympics–bah! How much taxpayer dough are we all spending on this circus? And where are the protests from those Libertoonians who rail about the government paying for stuff like this?
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Robert,
I am appalled at the money our nation wastes on the Olympics. You’d think they could go out and get private companies and individuals to foot the bill for these overhyped prancing ponies to run in circles.
Why if Congress keeps giving money to the USOC, then someday they might do something really harmful like paying billions of dollars a year to hunt down and imprison drug users.
We must privatize the USOC right away!!
Happy?
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The American public needs to be prepared to witness our atheletes being thuroughly “boo-ed” by the crowds in Athens. That is, unless NBC edits it out.
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Jeff,
What you hated was the way Greek myths were taught. Taught right, they can make a difference.
In my pointer http://blogs.rny.com/sbw/stories/storyReader$9 I wrote:
“The myth of Sisyphus is a metaphor — a fiction that tells a truth. In his interpretation of Sisyphus, Phil Cousineau in ‘Once and Future Myths’ reminds us of something every generation has to learn for itself: It is not what happens to us that matters; what matters is our attitude towards what happens. This story doesn’t ennoble suffering, it ennobles struggle. Struggle is inevitable, and those who learn to see it as an obstacle rather than a burden make life a lot easier for themselves.”
