Thetis and Achilles

I started this soon after the famous 9/ 11 event of 2001. War seemed inevitable, and had already ensued. At this point it’s safe for me to assume that the war that resulted was nothing that was going to address anything of concern to us, but at that point in time, having been attacked, whether one agreed with it or not, it did seem that some military action was going to occur.

In "the Iliad," by Homer, Achilles withdrew from the Trojan War over a dispute with Agamemnon. For the first portion of the story he is inactive. When the situation became critical he sent in his servant Patroclus, and when Patroclus was killed then the injury had become too personal for Achilles to continue with his inactive stance. His mother, the water nymph Thetis, encouraged him to do what he was compelled to do.

So here is Achilles holding the dead Patroclus, and being encouraged and advised by his mother, Thetis. At the time it seemed a fitting metaphor regarding our national situation, although, as I have implied, I can’t agree with the substitute war which continues to be fought towards no foreseeable goal.

 

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