Hubris and Hospitality

We are studying the Odyssey in class. Odysseus' journey home after the Trojan war. As a big classical mythology buff, it is always fun to teach. Additionally I do a Greek Culture Day and bring hummus, lahbni, muhanna, tabouli, pita, feta and other stuff like it to school. Most of my kids would not be exposed to some of this otherwise and many like it and go looking for cultural experiences afterward on their own because of it. That is not the point of this post, though, by the way...

The two major issues in the Odyssey are Hospitality and Hubris.

Hubris is a form of arrogance, usually against the gods, though for this class I extend that definition to any kind of arrogance where someone thinks they know better than everyone else. Hospitality is a code of conduct in Greek tradition, where there are rules about how to treat guests. Most of the problems or trials in the Odyssey come down to an issue of either Hubris or Hospitality.

Yet, I was thinking that most of the problems/situations/issues in my life come down to an issue of Hubris or Hospitality. Let me show you.

Parents refuse to believe that their children are not perfect or that they as parents may not be doing the best job. This is Hubris.

Parent's feel that I should do more work than they do on their children. This is an issue with Hospitality.

My mother thinks I should trust her, even though she has hurt me, lied to me and attempted numerous times to manipulate me. Her bad behavior is a lack of hospitality, her assumption is Hubris.

Nana needed help, needed someone to take care of her, so I did. I showed Hospitality. When I get snappish with her I am showing a lack of Hospitality.

When I don't take care of my body, eat too much, not exercise enough, that is a lack of hospitality for my body and when I get angry because my body doesn't do what I want or look the way I want because of that lack, that is Hubris...

I'm sure you can see the pattern here, so I'll stop before I start splattering the blood of the dead horse all over the place.

It is just so interesting to me that the issues of life really haven't changed all that much. We are all living in the same house, only the paint on the walls has changed. The structure of life hasn't. For whatever reason, today I find that oddly comforting.

Other people may simply find me odd... Is that Hubris or a Hospitality issue? (giggle)