The Odyssey Life Lessons

T. S. Eliot, a publisher and playwright, has said, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” Courage has many ways of presenting itself to people. Whether it is through physical ways or moral ways depends on the situation. Most people see courage as physical, like a small dog saving a helpless kitten from a fire or a man jumping in front of a bullet for a loved one or complete stranger. There is also the moral side of courage.

A hero is defined as a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. When looking at the epic poem The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus ,the protagonist in the poem shows outstanding achievements, courage and bravery . Odysseus travels through the 12 steps of heroism physically but still has self involved motives and does things for the glory of himself. Odysseus has embodied the definition of heroism through his actions and courage but not through his rationale.

As eager as Odysseus is to get back home to his wife and son in Ithaca, the shipmates on board with him are struggling with hunger and the loss of energy. Looking at Odysseus’ intense determination to return to his town, it seems as if the only idea that is filled in his mind is to go back to Ithaca without looking at the tired condition of his shipmates. Odysseus’ yelled difficult orders and tasks that were expected to be fulfilled by his sailors, and for the most part they were able to complete it. Looking at the poor men rowing day and night over the monstrous waves, Odysseus never gave them a chance to take a break and enjoy a single meal, until one shipmate decided to speak up. Even so, Odysseus was narrow-minded and thought only about

Greed can be a good thing if it is used for the right reasons. For example, greed can be the key that leads to success. If a person wants to achieve recognition, they’ll go extreme measures to make it happen such as inventing something, excelling in their studies, or even being the best. However, in most cases, greed can lead to disaster. Having the desire to obtain something a person already possesses is selfish.

Saving Others, Selflessly The word “hero” usually brings to mind a knight slaying a dragon or a firefighter rescuing someone from a burning building. But does one have to save a life to be considered a hero? Oftentimes, we assume that heroism is limited to physical bravery. This term, however, implies the notion of helping and inspiring others: a teacher cultivating a love for learning or a paraplegic Olympian reaching out to youth with disabilities. Because heroes range from Olympians to teachers, not all are famous--in fact, many remain unrecognized.

The last key point that is important to realize is that Odysseus thinks through his choices and advice. We have already seen that Odysseus is a thought out planner and a social situation genius, yet he is also wise with the choices and advice he decides to take. When Odysseus returns to Circe for the funeral, Circe gives Odysseus some significant advice that can help him get home. She tells him about the Sirens and the monsters and gives him advice on what routes to take and what precautions to take. Odysseus could of easily ignored this information, seeing as he is a crafty man who thinks very highly of himself, but Odysseus realizes that the advice will benefit him and his crew, so he decides to put this advice to use.

Oliver Stone once said “Heroes are everyday, common people.” Many people think of Batman, or Superman when they hear the word hero, but there are other heroes than just the ones who have superpowers. Although the most acclaimed heroes may be the comic book characters, but ordinary people are heroes too. The heroes in real life are the normal everyday people who have courage, bravery, determination, and generosity; people like Harry Swimmer or Christopher Reeves are heroes. The exclusive traits someone possesses is what makes a normal person a hero.

The Odyssey, a Greek epic involves the story of Odysseus's daring adventures during his return to Ithaca. He fell into numerous difficulties and has to keep himself alive. In the Odyssey Homer changes the Crew in order to reveal his message that strong minded leaders can help the weak minded to his ancient Greek audience and the reader. Strong minded leader help the weak minded develops from when they got tied up by Odysseus, to when the Cyclops ate one of their men in the Cyclops then to where Helios made them sacrificed one of their cattle for him, even though the crew does get distracted sometimes during the journey.

When reading the odyssey I noticed that Odysseus went through a lot of difficult tasks and journeys and has had more than one near death experience. If you read through the book you will notice that most of Odysseus’ hardships go with a life lesson that teach you what to do or not do in the future in that type of situation. One of the life lessons is when a has to hang onto the tree branch for a whole day to survive because Charybdis swallowed his ship. The symbol or life lesson in this part is determination because he wants to get home to his wife and son alive and it is a hard task,but he was willing do it because he had so much determination to get home. If odysseus didn’t have determination at that time he could have just let go because it hurt or it was hard ,but he didn’t because the need to go to his wife and son was greater.

Failure is vital to the growth of not only heroes, but ordinary people as well, as it teaches them how to move past their guilt and negativity in order to persevere. Through the article Nine Ways to Fail Better, the author shows that it’s not easy to deal with failure, but it is extremely important to move on. The author states, “Blaming yourself for the bad things that happen to you--are probably the biggest reason people metabolize failure badly.” In expressing that one should put the blame on themselves, “for the bad things that happen to [them]” stresses the idea that failure is often inevitable, and there is not much that can change the outcome of the situation. Additionally, there is no sense in feeling shameful about failure.

Odysseus’ leadership qualities The journey of Odysseus attempting to return home, to Ithaca, after being being in Troy is recited in Homer's epic named the Odyssey. Greek gods are extremely impactful in the voyage of his crew and himself. Without challenges, leadership skills are not able to be identified as clearly. Not all of the gods cause challenges for Odysseus to face yet some do.

In The Odyssey, Odysseus proves to be a weak leader by being overconfident in Book 9, forgetful in Book 10, dishonest in Book 12, and having a short temper in Books 21-23. Odysseus has been gone from home for twenty years. Ten years in the Trojan War, and ten years trying to get back home. Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, has waited for her husband to return home, and has gotten to the point where she believed that her husband was dead. However, he was not dead.