July 5
Not even a god fights against necessity. Wise is the one who yields to the inevitable — not out of weakness, but because no anger can turn it aside.
Antigone (freely rendered)
In the Wind
Not even a god fights against necessity. Wise is the one who yields to the inevitable — not out of weakness, but because no anger can turn it aside.
The oak pitied the reed by the water. Even a small bird was a burden to it, she said; at the slightest wind it had to bow its head. She herself stood firm against the storms. Had the reed only grown beneath her branches, she would have sheltered it.
The reed thanked her for her concern. It bent, it said, but it did not break. So far the oak had withstood every storm. They would see.
Even as they were speaking, a violent north wind rose. The oak held herself upright. The reed bowed.
The wind grew stronger. At last it tore the oak out of the earth, roots and all.
