The Sword of Damocles

   Although many people may recall hearing of the “Sword of Damocles”, not many remember the story behind it. According to legend, in the court of Dionysius II, King of Syracuse, Sicily in the 4^th Century, there was a courtier named Damocles. Courtiers were persons, male and female, who spent a lot of time in the King’s court. Some were nobles, some had business with the King, and some were just close friends of the King. Not sure where Damocles fit in here but apparently he commented to Dionysius how fortunate he was to enjoy all the perks of kingship. Dionysius invited Damocles to sit on his throne so that he could briefly enjoy that privilege but, unbeknownst to Damocles, Dionysius installed a huge sword over the throne, hanging by the single hair of a horse’s tail.

Eventually, Damocles could not fail to take notice of the sword, “hanging by a hair”, and could not vacate the throne fast enough. This story has been used as a morality tale about the price of privilege and power probably giving rise to the Shakespeare’s observation, in Henry IV, that “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”. It is also used to describe the fickleness of life itself.

 

As a physician, I am reminded of the Sword of Damocles almost daily. A patient may have a nearly perfect life only to wake up one day and notice, for the first time, an unusual dark mole that has arisen, seemingly overnight.  The next thing they know, they are fighting for their life with an advanced melanoma. The number of ways in which our lives can be turned upside down, from one moment to the next, are literally endless. It could be an illness, accident, family tragedy, professional setback, financial reversal, etc. etc.

 

It has been said, probably by someone in the financial field that yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, and only today is cash in hand. I agree, and I try to remember that when making future plans, even though it can be difficult not to count on tomorrow, and the next day, and so on, as though these are guaranteed to us. They aren't.

 

  I have been running in the neighborhoods around my house for the past 25 years. I have been approached by countless dogs with never a problem. I like dogs and do not believe I project fear when I am approached. There was one dark morning, before sun up, years ago. I was jogging when a large dark shadow came running toward me and began running alongside. It was disconcerting to see a very large, full grown Doberman Pinscher. The dog made no sound, just ran right along with me for perhaps a mile than peeled off.  Well, today I finally got bit. As I passed a house in my neighborhood, two dogs ran out, one black, one white. Neither was large and both looked like some version of a wire-haired terrier. The black one ran right into me and the smaller white one bit my ankle. The bite broke the skin but was, fortunately, superficial. The owner called them away before I had a chance to kick their heads off. I continued my run- I didn't want to get side tracked since I was timing it- but went back later to inform the owner of my bite and suggest he take care with the white one as it was obviously excitable and a bite risk. He was very apologetic and, when he saw the bite, seemed sincerely upset and even suggested he might put the dog down. I suggested he just keep it better secured.

 

The irony here is that my thought this morning was that I have done the training and now all I have to do is stay healthy and uninjured for the next two weeks. If the bite had been more serious, it could very possibly have derailed 11 ½ months of training and preparation. Just goes to show we should never count our chickens or assume that our plans are going to go to completion as we hope. We still make our plans; you can’t live life without planning for the future, but we must realize that some version of the Sword of Damocles hangs over our heads all the time and all we can do is be grateful that the hair it is hanging by holds up for another day.

     For today, I dodged a bullet and will just have to hope and pray that the next two weeks are uneventful as I finally get to enjoy the wonderful aspect of training known as the “taper”.

 

** I would be terribly remiss if I did not acknowledge the arrival yesterday morning of Elliette Briley Pace, the newest member of the family, who made her grand and celebrated entrance to the delight of all the Bosshardt’s and Pace’s. Welcome Elliette! May that hair hold strong for you and all your family for many years to come.