Discord

Is love a weakness?

Maybe. I act stupid when I think I like a girl, especially one who doesn't know I exist. I try to skip over the question, but it's hard to dodge it seems like people ask about it all the time. It's like a double-edged sword, since they'll tease me for liking a particular girl or they'll say that I probably couldn't get someone, anyway. It's not like I can get them to stop, either, because the teachers think that saying sorry means they'll act nice from now on, even when one kid just gave the other a black eye. And I don't want to get my parents involved because they'll go over-protective on me like they have before and embarrass me in front of my teachers or something like that.

That's why I stick to myself most of the time, 'cause it seems like whomever I interact with has a way of hurting my feelings, either intentionally or not. People always telling me to come back to the youth group, or get involved in clubs, but not after what's happened before, who I've seen some of those people turn out to be. It's easier just to keep to myself and go through the day pretending I'm somewhere else.

Anyway, there’s many tales throughout history about love ruining situations, with the most famous one in my opinion being the tale of the Trojan War. When I got switched into Greek Mythology, I didn't like it at first. Lots of boring names to remember and the teacher was really bubbly and hyper all the time. After I started reading the books assigned for the class, I started to get into it. I used to have dreams of slashing up monsters like the heroes, proceeding to get glory along the way and having people cheer me on as I battled against another hero. I got into it so much that I bought a large book full of the unabridged stories. After reading the Trojan War, it became my favorite because of the themes I saw taking place in it. I find the story fascinating, how it shows that the love (or lust) of one person can bring the whole world crumbling down on one's head.

Here's the short version of the book's Trojan War story:

The gods and goddesses was attending the wedding of Peleus and Thetis where they were given a bounty of wonderful gifts. Everyone was having a wonderful time… Except Eris, the Goddess of Discord. She was stopped at the door (presumably because of what she symbolized) and so she threw her own gift upon the floor: a golden apple with the word Kallistēi ("To the fairest") inscribed on it. Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena discovered the apple and began to argue over who was the fairest. The goddesses, knowing that they couldn’t settle this quarrel between themselves, turned to the other guests and asked them to decide on who was the fairest; knowing better than to get involved, the guests told the three that they couldn’t decide between them.

At Zeus’ request, the three goddesses were led by the god Hermes to the prince of Troy, Paris. They began offering him gifts, bribing him as a way of claiming the title of the fairest. Hera offered him political power and control of the Eastern world; Athena promised him wisdom and the skills of battle and great warriors; and Aphrodite said she would gift Paris with the most beautiful woman in the world should he pick her.

… And, well, I think we all know how the rest of the story goes. Paris picks Aphrodite as the fairest and, as a result, is promised Helen of Sparta. This leads to Paris “kidnapping” (though in most accounts, Helen leaves with him willingly) Helen, and because she had so many suitors, they planned to rescue her in order to receive her love.

Either that, or they were jealous of Paris.

This led to the Trojan War which lasted (to my knowledge) twenty years… all for want of a woman.

What I find interesting is that the rulers were willing to sacrifice thousands of lives all for Helen. I’m sure there was more to it than that, of course (political backslap across the face, for instance), but this war could have been avoided had the kings of the realm let her go.

… Some would argue that Paris should have picked something else instead, as it would prevent the Trojan War from happening. Perhaps, but any of the gifts Paris picked from would start a war. Control of the Eastern World wouldn’t happen just by snapping your fingers; Paris would have to raise an army and go out to conquer what was promised him. The skills of a great warrior and wisdom are quite obvious, but probably the lesser of the three evils since Paris could choose whether or not to go to battle with his enemies.

So, what does this mean? Were the goddesses purposely trying to start a war, or were they honestly trying to find out who was the fairest?

I’ll probably never know for sure, considering the authors of the story are long dead and gods and goddesses are not real – or, if they are real, they’ve since died or left the world to rot. But what I took away from this is that love will either always lead to conflict, or it will give you the means to create it.

So, is it better to be without love? I believe it has less consequences than having love, but I think it also gives a person the ability to take advantage of others, to prey upon their desires and offer them what they want the most… And as such, those desires will create conflict. The man without love will allow others to make those choices, to cause war; he will be the one to bestow the golden apple among those who argue amongst themselves.

And in the end, Discord always wins.