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Hey Brother,

I recently found a book at the library, Homer's Odyssey, which I had read when I was younger. It made me think of something Tony Robbins once said.

He asked his audience if they had ever watched a movie twice, and when many people raised their hands, he made fun of them, saying they needed to get a life.

But I think that's a silly thing to say because great works of art can speak to you differently depending on where you are in life or how you're feeling at the time.

Even simple movies can be worth watching more than once. So, I decided to read the book again to see how it would appeal to me now that I'm older and hopefully wiser.

In many classic books, there are parts that really make you think. Some are deep or relate to your own experiences. I want to talk about a few parts of Homer's Odyssey that stood out to me when I read it again.

The Odyssey is about Odysseus trying to get home to his wife after the Trojan war. Along the way, he faces a lot of distractions, including women.

One of them is Circe, who can change her shape and become incredibly beautiful.

Odysseus wants to go home, but Circe charms him so much that he forgets about his goal. He thinks about going home sometimes, but then he forgets again because Circe offers him everything he could want in a woman.

Odysseus and his crew stay with Circe for a whole year. But his crew starts getting restless, probably because they're not getting any action. Eventually, they confront Odysseus and ask him why he's not continuing their journey. This snaps Odysseus out of his daze.

It's like he wakes up from a dream and feels deeply sad for letting his men down and for not focusing on getting home. Once he's back to his senses, he tells his men to get ready to leave immediately.

Isn't the story of Odysseus and Circe a powerful lesson for men not to let women distract them from their goals? For me, I would have been grateful if my distraction had only lasted a year. Luckily, I was able to snap out of it once I decided to.

I'm not saying I'm as brave as Odysseus, though. Both heroes in ancient epics and regular guys today can get sidetracked by women. They can make you forget your life goals, and if you don't snap out of it, you can waste your life away while thinking you're having a good time.

The encounter with Circe is a warning for young men, even though it's not usually seen that way.

Later in the story, Odysseus goes to Hades, the land of the dead. If you've played the game God of War III, you've seen a modern version of this place and met the god Hades.

In Hades, Odysseus talks to the dead Agamemnon about how women can betray men and drive them mad.

They mention Helena, the most beautiful woman in Greek mythology, who caused the Trojan War. It's like if a 11/10 e-thot caused a huge war between countries like China, Russia, and the USA. It might sound strange, but if you think about it, it's not so far-fetched.

There are many stories of men making foolish and irreversible choices because of women. I wonder if Homer was trying to tell us something important about relationships.

As Agamemnon and Odysseus talk, Agamemnon says, "no man should trust any woman," but he also mentions that Odysseus's wife Penelope is different. She's like the "Not All Women Are Like That" (NAWALT) of Greek mythology.

Penelope waits faithfully for Odysseus to return home, even though many other men try to woo her. On the other hand, Agamemnon, who led the Greeks in the Trojan War, was killed by his wife while he was taking a bath.

Maybe Penelope had special genes that kept her looking young, because the older she gets, the more men seem to be interested in her. It's a strange story element. Maybe it would have been better if Homer had made Odysseus's journey shorter. His 20-year journey might have some special meaning, but maybe it was changed by feminists in the past to empower women.

Nowadays, even top universities like Oxford admit students to Classics programs without any knowledge of Latin or Greek, just for the sake of diversity. This shows a decline in the study of Classics.

In Homer's Odyssey, the sirens symbolize the temptation of women. Their beautiful singing lures sailors to their doom, as their ships crash into rocks. Odysseus escapes this danger by blocking his men's ears with wax and tying himself to the ship's mast.

The allure of the sirens is so strong that Odysseus needs his men to restrain him. Today, we see similar temptations in "manic pixie dream girls," who may bring chaos and trouble into your life.

While it may seem outlandish, some women can ruin a man's life or career. Your friends could help you avoid such situations, but they might have their own interests at heart. Still, listening to their advice could be better for you in the long run.

Ancient Greek and Roman texts hold a wealth of wisdom. Reading them can make you a well-educated person and help you avoid many mistakes in life. Let's raise a glass to Homer and the civilization our ancestors built. It's clear that our enemies wouldn't be so fixated on destroying it if it wasn't great.

Until next time

-MOS