He was washed onto the shores of his island home at Ithaca, after 10 years’ absence in a foreign war and 10 years of hard travel in foreign lands, Odysseus, literature’s most famous veteran, stares around him…. “Now brilliant Odysseus awoke from sleep in his fatherland, and he did not know it, having been long away”. Additionally the goddess Athena has cast an obscuring mist over all the familiar landmarks, making “everything look otherwise than it was”. “Ah me” groans Odysseus, “what are the people whose land I have come to this time”?
This was 2800 years ago but yet, does history catch up with us?
Last Thursday, a U.S. military veteran psychiatrist who had been treating the mental scars of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan went on shooting rampage at an Army base in Texas.
Who is the veteran, and how does he stand in relation to his native land America?
This question remains relevant to those marching the event of this week for ‘Veterans Day’ in the United States and ‘Armistice Day’ in Europe. In practice, Nov. 11 is clouded with ambiguous symbolism and has become America’s most awkward holiday.
In “The Iliad”, Achilles must choose between kleos or nostos – glory or safe return home. By dying at Troy, Achilles has assured of undying fame as the greatest of all heroes. His choice reflects an uneasy awareness that it is far easier to honor the dead soldier than the soldier that returns.
So, how will America honor this veteran than eventually, drastically went shooting rampage at the Army Base in Texas?
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