I know, the Donald knows all things and is smart...well? The Donald is not as all-knowing nor as smart as he thinks he is. Let me educate Donald the Dumb. I'm sure that the Donald was an excellent student at Wharton, at least he says he was. Nevertheless, he either didn't take any humanity classes while at Wharton, or he has forgotten what he should have learned. Therefore, I will deal with Greek mythology in this tutorial essay.

The Western world is based upon the Greeks. Shelley said, "We are all Greeks." (This link will take you to one of my PPP that I made for teaching art history.) The Greeks are the basis of who we are along with our mindset.

This mini-lecture for Donald the Dumb is the story of Icarus (Ἴκαρος). Daedalus was Icarus' father, and they lived on the island of Crete as prisoners of King Minos. Daedalus built the Labyrinth for Minos, which is not far from his palace. The rift between Minos and Daedalus was the result of Daedalus giving Ariadne a ball of string, which allowed Theseus to defeat the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. Hence, Daedalus and Icarus were imprisoned in the Labyrinth by Minos.

Since Daedalus was smart, unlike the Donald, Daedalus devised a means to escape Crete. They would fly to freedom. Daedalus made a set of wings from feathers and wax for both of them to fly away from the Labyrinth.

Daedalus working on Icarus' wings

Nonetheless, Daedalus warned Icarus, "Let me warn you, Icarus to take the middle way, in case the moisture weighs down your wings if you fly too low, or if you fly too high the sun scorches them." Then Daedalus took off by telling Icarus to follow him.

Icarus does follow his father's instructions to the letter for a nanosecond or two. However, Icarus feels the excitement of flying, which goes to his head. As a result, off he flies. Icarus relished the feeling of pride being able to fly like the birds. The Greeks called this false pride, hubris . Hubris was the basis of most all the Greek tragedies. Icarus flies too close to the sun, which caused the wax to melt resulting in the feathers falling off. It wasn't but a nanosecond or two before Icarus was without wings and plummets to the earth and dies.

The earliest version of the Donald

Therefore, the Greek story of Icarus' hubris, false pride, resulted in this classic Greek tragedy. When Icarus or the 21st century version, the Donald, attempt to wallow in false pride, the Donald will self-destruct, regardless of how braggadocios he might be.

Interestingly, Donald the Dumb needs to listen to Daedalus' advice about life. The Donald should note what George Santayana added to Daedalus warning, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Much of Donald the Dumb's life is affected adversely by not learning basic history.

Connecting the Dots

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Donald the Dumb

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Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does."

Visit the Stupid is As Stupid Does page to read more about this topic.

Best and Worst of Times

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02/03/17