Echo and Narcissus

The story of Echo and Narcissus is one of several tales related in Ovid's Metamorphoses, a collection of mythological epics from Ancient Rome. In the story, Echo was a beautiful and nice, but very talkative, mountain nymph. Her grief began one day when she was unfortunate enough to engage in conversation with Hera, Queen of the Olympians and Zeus' wife. As Echo distracted Hera with her endless chatter, Zeus took advantage of the situation, slipping by his wife to "visit" other mountain nymphs on the earth's surface. Eventually realizing her husband's infidelity, Hera became enraged, yet she did not take her anger out on her husband, considering he was the almighty lord over all of Earth and possessor of the fearsome lightning bolts. Instead, she punished poor Echo, whom she believed had distracted her on purpose so that Zeus could pursue his Earthly interactions. Although Echo was totally innocent, this did not matter, however, to the wrathful goddess, who enacted her revenge by confiscating Echo's most prized possession: her voice. Nonetheless, Hera did allow Echo to retain a portion of her ability to speak. From that day forward, Echo could only reapeat others' speech; she had lost the ability to freely speak forevermore. After some lengthy exposition, the story then shifts to the other main character, Narcissus. Narcissus was described as a beautiful young man who attracted the adoration of anyone who laid eyes on him, both men and women. Despite his beauty, Narcissus was conceited, haughty, and exceedingly vain. He constantly rejected anybody's attempts to seduce him, believing no one to be worthy of his attention. After her encounter with Hera, Echo's fortune only worsened, as she soon spotted Narcissus walking in the woods, falling desperately in love with him. While Narcissus was hunting stags, Echo seized the opportunity capture his attention by attempting to communicate with him, even though she had lost the ability to completely express her thoughts. As Narcissus was hunting, Echo followed him. Eventually, he heard her footsteps and paused to ask who it was that had been following him. Of course, Echo could only repeat what Narcissus had just asked her. And so the conversation proceeded, with Narcissus inquiring as to the identity of the person who had been following him and Echo repeating his every word, until Echo, no longer able to restrain her desire, finally ran to Narcissus and threw herself upon him. Narcissus was horrified by Echo's passionate attempts to love him, and he rudely rejected her. Heartbroken, Echo lost all motivation and ambition in life, wastin away until only her voice remained, to both the annoyance and delight of mountaineers. Taking pity on Echo and the countless other hapless individuals whom Narcissus had coldly rejected, the gods cursed Narcissus by making him realize the pangs of unrequited love, a realization that he himself had forced on others. As he drank from a spring one day, Narcissus noticed an image in the water, the most beautiful person he had ever seen. He tried to touch the apparition, but to no avail. Though he was mesmerized by the beautiful image in the water, Narcissus came to understance that it was his own reflection he had been staring at. Echoing Echo's situation earlier, Narcissus was devastated by the fact that he would never be able to love someone who could love him in return. Like Echo, Narcissus lost all ambition and sood died by the spring. Where he lay, the narcissus flower sprung forth from the earth, forever growing near the water's edge.

For this blog, I am going to talk about a person who I (and many others) abhor, but who is nevertheless a very altruistic person. I am taling, of course, about Bono, lead singer of the world-renowned Irish band U2. Although I only enjoy some of U2's work (I am not all a devoted fan), U2 is without a doubt an extremely popular band throughout the world, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide since the band's debut in 1976. In fact, U2 is considered one of the best-selling muscial artists of all time, has won 22 Grammy Awards (more that any other band), and has been ranked at numer 22 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time." Who, you may ask, is responsible for the band's tremendous success? Could it be all of the individual band members working coherently to produce an end producet? According to Bono, this is not the case, for it is he himself who is most responsible for the band's success. While he has not outright stated that he is the primary reason for U2's eminence, it is quite obvious in the way that he struts from award ceremony to award ceremony that he feels this way. Though he is vain and exceedingly arrogant, it is important to note that Bono has also participated in various philanthropic ventures.