Helen is found in the city of Troy married to Paris. In book 3, Hector and Paris have a one on one duel. Iris goes to Helen and tells Helen about it, so Helen runs to see the duel. She finds Priam, and she stands with him. Priam then starts asking Helen about some of the different Achaean men he sees. When Priam asks about Agamemnon, Helen does not just answer his question, instead, she starts talking about herself.
What she says about herself is very interesting. She says, “I revere you so, dear father, dread you too--if only death had pleased me then, grim death, that day I followed your son to Troy, forsaking my marriage bed, my kinsmen and my child...and the lovely comradeship of women my own age. Death never came, so now I can only waste away in tears” (Homer 134). Reading this I can hear the sadness and regret in her voice about where she is in her life. It appears that she became discontented with her life, and went after Paris to Troy with him; only to find that she was now a slave to him. We see how she misses what she had and now wishes to be dead because of her mistake.
This problem that Helen has is something that happens too many times to us. We get discontented with all the good things in our life and start longing for something else. There is nothing wrong with wanting things or wanting better for ourselves, but when we do it out of discontent then it is wrong. When we become like Helen and pursue the things we so desperately want; we almost always get nothing but regret and remorse for our actions.
Well said. There are many lessons that we can learn from Helen. One of the most important, as you said, is what we can learn about discontentment. Unlike Helen, we have something to be content in. Whenever we feel discontented we need to find ourselves in Christ. It is only in Him that we can find contentment.
ReplyDeleteI agree, a lot of times we hold things tighter when they are gone and then forget about all the things still with us. Also, Helen had no control over Aphrodite controlling her emotions and Paris sweeping her away so she didn't pursue the things she wants but still very well said.
ReplyDeleteYou make a very good point. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side and we don’t find that out until we’ve crossed the fence. And even though partial blame lies on the gods, Helen could have left before the Greeks spent ten years fighting to get her back.
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