Some stories withstand the test of time better than others, and the ones that last the longest usually teach us something — about the world, about what it means to be human. Today, we’re reaching far back, into the myths of Ancient Greece, for the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Orpheus, son of the god Apollo, was a poet and musician — the best of all mortals. His songs could tame wild beasts and soften the stoniest of hearts. And he loved the maid Eurydice.
One day, as Eurydice picked flowers in a meadow, she was bitten by a snake and died. In some versions, it is simply a beautiful day; in others, it is their wedding day. But Orpheus’ grief ran so deep that every song he played brought the world to weeping.
Apollo told Orpheus to descend to the Underworld and seek out Hades, the god of death, so Orpheus did. He lulled the three-headed guard dog Cerberus to sleep and approached the god of death himself and his wife, Persephone. He sang out his grief to them, and they were so moved that they agreed to allow Eurydice to return to the land of the living — on one condition. Eurydice’s spirit would follow silently behind Orpheus, and he must not look back until they had both reached the mortal realm, or else Eurydice’s soul would be sucked back into the Underworld.
And so the lovers began the climb out of the Underworld — Orpheus in front, Eurydice behind. When at last Orpheus could see sunlight ahead, he turned to see if his love was in fact behind him. And for a moment, he caught a glimpse of her spirit before it was whisked back into the land of the dead.
Their story teaches us much. About love, for sure, and empathy. But it also teaches us about patience and trust. And that “close” is not always enough.
This full year of the COVID-19 pandemic has been our long, dark road. “Normal” — however it will appear now — is Eurydice trailing behind us. The light ahead is the promise of an end to the dark days through mass vaccinations and the gradual easing of restrictions. And right now, we are Orpheus.
The ancient musician saw the glimmer of light and turned too soon, losing the progress he had made — and losing Eurydice, too. We cannot make that same mistake.
We’re not there yet. We are not to the end of the pandemic. We have not yet vaccinated enough people to allow life to return to “normal” and we have new COVID variants to contend with. We do not have the pandemic under tight enough control to let all restrictions and precautions go.
“Close” isn’t the same as “there.” If we turn around now in hopes of embracing normal, we will lose everything for which we have fought for a year. We finally have a downward trend in our numbers — new cases and deaths alike. We cannot grow lax now. Or we may lose our chance to ever see “normal” again.
