Thursday, March 15, 2012

The Ides of March - Catch a Favorable Tide

"Beware the Ides of March," is the soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar in the play written by William Shakespeare.  Since Caesar's assassination, which history tells us occurred on March 15 in 44 BCE,  the day has been marked with a sense of foreboding and tragedy.  However, the "ides" originally was merely the date of the full moon in any given month, and typically happened around the 15th.

Pacific Ocean - Maui

My high school English teacher had us memorize a passage from "Julius Caesar," and I still remember part of it today.  It is in Act IV, Scene III, and Brutus is speaking.  He says:

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea we are now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

I think in life, tides are a regular thing.  Sometimes I think I have caught the flood of the tide, and other times, I think I am bound in the shallows and miseries.  The thing to remember is, there is always another tide.  So when you are afloat on the full sea, take advantage of the current, and see where it leads.  And when you are stuck in the shallows, be on the lookout for the next tide!

Fish are adept at surviving the changing tides.

May the Ides of March this year bring you good fortune.  I hope you catch a favorable tide!

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