Story for a class

Okay, so I had to write a myth for my Greek and Roman mythology class. I just got finished with it, and just for fun, here it is! Pardon the formatting.

The young man paused in the middle of the small strip of land between the woods and the city and glanced in at the busy people hurrying their way through the streets. Some days, he missed that part of life, just doing every day tasks for other normal people. When Zeus had picked him up and taken him aside to enlist his assistance, he felt very privileged. However, as the days went on, he began to feel less privileged and began feeling unrewarded for his tasks. One day, he brought his thoughts to the great God Zeus himself.

“It burdens me,” the young man said as he stared down at his feet, “I talk to Zeus, the ruler of the Gods, yet no man knows but I. I should be a famous man. Countless stories have been written about men such as I.”

“But you have been given my grace to help me in important tasks,” Zeus replied. “Is that not reward enough? Mortal fame is fleeting. You service with me will endure through all time.” The young man said nothing; just stared down at his feet.

Days passed, and every day the young man would pause and stare into the town. He would often wonder how many people would scurry about their day, each thinking how important they must be doing what they were doing. They had no idea, he would think to himself. They are not important at all, no matter how they think. On the last day of the week, the young man walked into the forest to meet Zeus, but carried this weight with him to his meeting.

Zeus looked down at the young man. The young man was obviously too distracted by his own thoughts to help Zeus as he wanted the young man to. Finally, Zeus spoke to him. “If it is popularity and fame you are looking for, I can give it to you. Beware, though. Popularity is not always what you think it is, or more importantly, what you want it to be.”

The boy looked up gleefully at Zeus. “Yes, please, almighty Zeus. Please, make me known throughout the entire world! I want men in the furthest reaches of Greece to talk about me!” Zeus just looked down for a moment, and then opened his arms wide above the trees in the forest.

Suddenly, the boy began to grow, stretching in every direction until he was exactly three times his original size. He looked back up at Zeus with a smile and threw his arms up towards the sky to give praise for this new gift. “Now,” Zeus spoke with his booming voice, “you will have your eternal fame.”

The people of the city awoke the next morning to the sight of their new gift. People emerged from their houses and congregated in the middle of town, all gathered around the giant man. The residents of their town reached out their hands and laid them on him, instantly realizing he was a gift from the Gods.

Many people from far-away lands all came to worship the gift that Zeus had given the small town and the rest of the world, the great statue. Soon, word of the statue had spread throughout the entire land. There was not a man or woman who did not know about it. The young man was the most famous man in the world; the unknown face, forever looking up towards the heavens with a smile and outreached arms.

Thoughts on attraction

I've actually had a conversation with a couple of my friends on this subject, but I just really wanted to take a few moments and write it out on here, and if anyone actually reads this thing, hopefully get some feedback on it all. The topic is, where does a friendship cross into the realm of something more?

When I was talking to one of my friends a while ago, I mentioned to her that I really wanted the next girl I dated to be a really good friend first. My problem is that I've dated a few gals who probably wouldn't have been my friend, had it not been for the "dating" thing. Yes, I know that it's really sad, but it's the truth. So, that was my new mantra for relationships. Friends first.

However, upon talking to another of my friends, a painful realization dawned. Given this whole "friends first" philosophy, would I ever actually get to be in a relationship again? I really think that the whole philosophy sounds great on the surface, but once you get down a couple of layers, it becomes quite flawed. My problem is that I am really big on the friendships. If there is someone who I feel is really special to me and that I feel should be part of the rest of my life (not even in a relationship sense, just a person who becomes extremely important to me), I place that person on a level that is out of my dating range. Yes, I move those people into an "undatable" category. Looking at it, I feel really confused. I mean, it should be those people that I technically should date, since it is those people that I am truly close to. But I have such a high value on the level on non-relationship intimacy that I am afraid to risk it for anything more. Interesting, no?

Midnight thoughts

I just thought of a saying one of my good friends told me a while ago. He told me this when I was going through nuclear power school and I was thrown in with a bunch of guys who were way smarter than I am. With that brought a sense of, well, stupidity. I wasn't anywhere used to being "average". So, I called up my good friend Gary (school teacher) and whined to him about how I felt dumb, and he shared this quote with me.

"Even the worst basketball player in the NBA is one of the best in the world."

Only truly great people surround themselves with others that challenge him or her. But that always means that you're constantly going to have someone by your side to push you further, people that are better than you in what you strive to achieve. As such, you can't use those people to judge how you stand in the world.