Icarus

The story of Icarus warns us of the dangers of flying too high. Hubris, unchecked ambition, and the untamed vivacity of youth. Most of us are aware of that message, which is useful. We should be wary of living beyond our means, of reaching too far too fast, of thinking that we are more capable than we are. "Don't fly too close to the sun."

But there is another message that is glossed over in modern day allusions to this myth. We must fly.

Icarus' father, Daedalus, also warned of the dangers of flying too low. Of no ambition at all. Of  the lack of motivation. Apathy.

Today, you can easily find advice against Daedalus' warning. Admonitions to, "Shoot for the stars," "go for the gold," "You can do/be anything."

These encouraging messages are not wrong. We must try. To achieve his goal of freedom, Daedalus and Icarus had to fly. They had to make the attempt. But Icarus' failure was that when he finally overcame his apathy, he did not temper his enthusiasm with wisdom.

So what's the take away?

We have to try, and we have to be wise.

How do we gain wisdom?

Luckily, most of our failures will not lead us to a watery grave. The first step is to overcome apathy, fear, anxiety. We must leap, believing that we will succeed, and then fail. And each failure will bring us wisdom so that we grow from Icarus to Daedalus. Heed the advice of those who are more wise, those who have gone before. Learn from our mistakes as we continue to try. And finally, we will have wisdom.

So, learn from Icarus. Don't fly too high, but don't be so afraid of crashing that you don't try to fly at all.