King Midas

Author's note: This is a response to the Greek myth of King Midas. Enjoy.

How society came to be today is not, by any means, a new kind of era. The greed that lingers behind all who seek power and the jealousy that dwells within all of us is something all of humanity has had to face . They are labeled now as the seven deadly sins, marked by our religions as an unforgivable kind of evil. Centuries ago, in multiple cultures these traits also existed and were thought of as atrocious beings. They were not classified with religion, though, for the Greeks never had an established belief. Their morals came to life in fantastical stories about heroes and monsters. Sometimes there are those stories that  do not incorporate just mythical creatures, but use people, like us, with everyday problems that become more than controllable.

Thinking of kings the first thoughts that occur are wealth and power. Most are satisfied with what they have, which is no little thing either. None the less, there are kings who can never be content with what is provided. Reasons being insecurity or trauma brought upon them, but all aside; happiness is just not achievable. King Midas, the king of Phrygia and the son of a poor countryman, was selected by the people who were in need of a leader.  Originally the man was loving and kind, slowly progressing in to the greedy person he became to be.

A man stumbled upon him, which he tended to, and was then granted one wish. Greed consuming his mind, he chose his words quite unwisely, "everything I touch will turn to gold." Thus, he began tapping and dancing around objects, all of them shifting into gold. As dinner started to approach he, without thinking, placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder. As loving as the gesture can be there was his gift, if that can even be called so, that turned her into gold.

As the idea of power takes over all of us, we turn to the point of insanity. Wanting more and more, never mentally establishing a limit. The break that we reach can be mild or life altering. Midas learned that his obsession with wealth turned his one other love into a frozen reminder of what kind of monster he became, driven by this need of more.