Scylla and Charybdis

In the Odyssey, Odysseus is faced with making a decision where both choices have dreadful outcomes.  Circe informs Odysseus that on his voyage back to Ithaca he will come across two sea monsters, Charybdis and Scylla. Scylla is a six headed monster that will kill six of Odysseus’s men regardless of what they do. Charybdis is a whirlpool that will swallow the entire ship. Going through either of these monsters will result in devastation. After Odysseus asks if he will be able to fight off Scylla, Circe tells Odysseus, “Can’t you bow to the deathless gods themselves? Scylla’s no mortal, she’s an immortal devastation, terrible, savage, wild, no fighting her, no defense– just flee the creature, that’s the only way. Waste any time, arming for battle beside her rock, I fear she’ll lunge out again with all six of her heads and seize as many men” (A, 403). She tells him basically that the death of six men is impossible to avoid, but attempting to fight will just result in the unnecessary death of more men. The best way for Odysseus to handle the situation is to row as fast as possible and just go straight through Scylla.
 The New York Times posted an article with a similar situation, Across the U.S. Long Recovery Looks Like Recession. This article talks about how the United States is in a recovery at the current time, though key components of the economy are still going downhill. There are still not enough jobs, the housing market is down, and foreclosures and debt are serious problems. The government had to make a decision, like Odysseus, between doing nothing and have things never get better or attempt to fix the economy where things may get worse before better. Attempting to do more than what is already being done will just make the economy worse, the only way to get through the recession is to wait. This is similar to the Odyssey because although Odysseus wants to fight Scylla to save his men, the best thing for him to do is nothing. Even though the economy does not seem to be getting any better, the article shows that it will over time. The article states, “This dreary accounting should not suggest a nation without strengths. Unemployment rates have come down from their peaks in swaths of the United States, from Vermont to Minnesota to Wisconsin. Port traffic has increased, and employers have created an average of 68,111 jobs a month this year.”  This shows that the situation may look bad, however it is improving. Just as Odysseus has to go through Scylla and lose six men, the outcome of just going through will end up in the best possible way. The economy has to get through the rough part of the recovery to end up successful.

October 13, 2010 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E7DC173EF930A25753C1A9669D8B63&scp=2&sq=across%20the%20u.s.%20long%20recovery%20looks%20like%20recession&st=cse