Today while I was waiting for a patient to come to my office I stopped to watch a program in which they made reference to the nymph Echo. They correlated the ancient story with the difficulties some people have in communicating with others with respect.
Recalling a bit about Echo's story, she was a wood nymph and according to the account of her characteristics they tell that she had such a melodious voice that even she herself was captivated when she spoke.
It is said that she talked so much that she bored her companions. The men, on the other hand, loved to listen to her. She had the gift of the gab and used the most beautiful words to address everyone and captivate them, in this way she listened to herself and delighted.
One time she was talking so much that even the god Zeus was enraptured listening to her words. Hera, seeing this, did not take her eyes off the nymph. Echo in turn was impressed by the god of lightning and succumbed to Zeus' charms.
Hera found them together on a passionate date and could not contain her anger, punishing the nymph to lose her eloquence and could only constantly repeat the last word her interlocutor said to her.
The nymph could not bear such punishment, she could no longer utter sound as before and would only repeat the last thing someone said to her and she listened to everyone's taunts. She went to hide in the intricacies of the forest.
Once she saw Narcissus there, she fell in love with him, but she always hid so as not to be seen. Until one day when she was careless and she was in evidence, but when he heard that she only repeated his final words, he only mocked her. She became even sadder and ended up hiding in the mountains and was never seen again and she remained hidden in the forest always repeating the last word someone says.
Going back to the TV program, they bring up the fact that people learn not to respect those who are different, they do not tolerate those who think or feel differently from themselves.
People do not realize that living together is about treating all kinds of people and respecting diversity of criteria. We cannot surround ourselves with people who only think or do things as we do ourselves, life would be a monotony.
Can you imagine? At first it would be great to be with a friend or a partner who likes the same things we do. Going to the movies, going to the park, going swimming, thinking the same things, having the same tastes, it may seem nice but deep down you will be bored, you won't have topics to discuss because they will always agree with you.
The nice thing about life is the diversity we find in it, but there is also the part of values and respect that people deserve as independent individuals. Sometimes we do not tolerate the differences of others in relation to ourselves and we only disrespect them by violating their integrity.
The nymph Echo was vain with her gifts to the point that she always wanted to listen to herself. Her vanity punished her, it led to the worst misfortune that could happen to her. Take away her precious gift. She would never praise herself anymore, but it was not only that. Taking away her most precious attribute was not enough, this kind of punishment led her to be disowned by everyone.
She could not stand it, as many people do. They cannot bear to be despised for their possible differences and make bad decisions, only being trained with a strong character and understanding at the same time that others can also be wrong and act in ignorance. Understanding this can lead to overcoming the situation of mockery in which you find yourself, the nymph Echo did not tolerate it and turned away from the world.
People who can take the teasing, they will realize that those who mock are in fact people who have more problems themselves in their minds, that they are only reflecting their inner selves on the outer selves of others.
Loss of values, leads to lack of tolerance, to lack of respect and discrimination of the human beings around us.
Let's try not to be like Echo, let's try not to be Heras, let's try not to be Narcissus because all that only leads to our own destruction.
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I feel bad and everything, but I couldn't stop going through your article today. So here I am. A hug.