The cat faced two ferocious beasts. One had hairy legs that
would grab her fur like sticker grass. The other could coil its slippery skin all
around her. She would have to face one of them in order to make her escape.
Which one will she choose?
This setup is a homage to Homer's epic myth, The Odyssey. War hero Odysseus faced
many obstacles on his journey back home. One of them involved passing through a
strait that has two monsters on either side. One of them was Scylla who would
cast its heads onto ships and eat 6 men at a time. The other was Charybdis,
which was a giant whirlpool that pulled down entire ships killing everyone
aboard. Both monsters were immortal and could not be killed. He was advised to
row past the Scylla side, “for it is better to lose six of your men then your
entire crew.” It is believed that we get the phrase "between a rock and a
hard place" from this story.
We sometimes have to make difficult choices when there are
no good options, only degrees of damage. One example: someone we know is
engaging in destructive behavior and is unwilling to change. Do we enable the
behavior or walk away from it? Charybdis in the situation represents the
insidious force that drags us down into codependency. Scylla is that part of us that
is devoured when ending a significant relationship.
Adults are sometimes caught between rocks and hard places.
This is why Peter Pan did not want to grow up. Although we have to, the trick
is to continue to experience magic in the world in the midst of such difficult
decisions. Art is a wonderful platform to do just that! Perhaps our most
significant choice is what to do after facing the monster.
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