4.17.2010: Between,,, You Know (Odysseus and Icarus Consider the Options)

Odysseus in a boat. He's peering intently ahead, through a telescope. He looks seriously worried.

Alongside him is a younger sailor, looking equally worried.

SAILOR
This looks bad.

ODYSSEUS
It is bad.

SAILOR
So, what do we do?

ODYSSEUS
Steer the ship left, we get eaten by Scylla. Steer the ship left, and we get sucked in by Charybdis.

A pause.

SAILOR
Those are our options? The ONLY options? Die or die?

ODYSSEUS
Yes.

SAILOR
What about going back? Change course completely. Forward isn't the only direction, sir.

ODYSSEUS
You don't know much about Greek mythology, do you?

SAILOR
Look, I didn't ask to be cast in this myth. I don't even have a name! I'm just "Sailor," and if you consider the stage directions, I'm a young sailor, I have a lot of life left in me, so if I have a voice in this other than as a passive participant so you have someone to talk to, I vote we turn back. I don't like what happens if we steer right and I certainly don't like what happens if we steer left. So let's just steer back -- yes, we'll look like pussies, but we'll at least be ALIVE to be ridiculed.

ODYSSEUS
You have a lot to learn, young man.

Above them, we see Icarus, mid-flight. He's high enough to be thrilled with the implications of flight, but not yet high enough to get burned by the sun.

ICARUS
Odysseus!

ODYSSEUS
Icarus! How's the sky today, my friend?

ICARUS
The day is beautiful! The sun is spectacular!

ODYSSEUS
My friend, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Wondered if you might be able to help me out.

ICARUS
Certainly. What's the problem.

SAILOR
A rock -- where a multi-headed beast will devour us as we pass! And a hard place -- where a sucking whirlpool will swallow us whole!

ODYSSEUS
Steer left or steer right? Death either way?

SAILOR
Or turn back! Seriously, why isn't that option on the table? You people are fucking ridiculous.

ICARUS
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
The point is, you're damned either way,
so your choice isn't an escape from damnation,
its how you handle being damned.

ODYSSEUS
That's the purpose of myth.

ICARUS
The consideration of impossible questions...

ODYSSEUS
Not their answers.

ICARUS
We're all going to die.
We're all going to fail.
We're all going to try to to touch the sun, and miss.

ODYSSEUS
So the only way you know who you are
what you're made of
what kind of person you will be
is to accept failure.

ICARUS
Fall from the sky.

ODYSSEUS
Sail through the middle of an unwinnable situation.

ICARUS
Because -- and here's the secret --
on the other side of it...

ODYSSEUS
...after the failure...

ICARUS
... you get reborn.

ODYSSEUS
Death is a temporary thing.
Skins will be shed,
transformation will occur
and you will be changed.

ICARUS
Flip a coin.
Steer in one direction.
You'll probably fail.
That's life.

ODYSSEUS
Isn't it wonderful?

Icarus flies up into the sky and out of sight. The sailor looks at Odysseus, looks ahead to the rock and the hard place. Pulls out a coin. Flips it.

SAILOR
Steer left. Let's see what happens.