A Greek's Take on Women's Courage...from "Gates of Fire"

I've been on leave this week, so besides knocking out relocation business, I've had a fair amount of time to read. I'd seen "Gates of Fire," by Steven Pressfield, on the Marine Corps reading list, knew that it covered the Battle of Thermopylae (of "300" fame), so I thought I'd give it a look. I half-expected to merely find Greeks and Persians slugging it out at the Hot Gates for page after page, but what I found was much more...A commentary on the warrior ethos, to be sure, but Pressfield goes way beyond what I expected....If you have time, I wanted to share a little bit about what he writes regarding the women of Sparta. At the end, I'll try to explain why...
Dienekes, an older, heroic platoon leader of Spartans, is sitting around a fire with a few of the younger warriors, days before the Battle of Thermopylae, discussing courage, virtue, etc...
Ariston said,"I was thinking of women's courage, I believe it is different from men's." Dienekes pressed him..."Different, how?" "Man's courage, to give his life for his country, is great but unextraordinary. Is it not intrinsic to the nature of the male, beasts as well as men, to fight and to contend? It's what we were born to do, it's in our blood. Watch any boy. Before he can even speak, he reaches, impelled by instinct, for the staff and the sword--while his sisters unprompted shun these implements of contention and instead cuddle to their bosom the kitten and the doll.
"What is more natural to a man than to fight, or a woman to love? Is this not the imperative of a mother's blood, to give and to nurture, above all the produce of her own womb, the children she has borne in pain? We know that a lioness or a she-wolf will cast away her life without hesitation to preserve her cubs or pups. Women the same. Now consider, friends, that which we call women's courage:
"What could be more contrary to female nature, to motherhood, than to stand unmoved and unmoving as her sons march off to death? Must not every sinew of the mother's flesh call out in agony and affront at such an outrage? Must not her heart seek to cry out in its passion, 'No! Not my son! Spare him!' That women, from some source unknown to us, summon the will to conquer this their own deepest nature is, I believe, the reason we stand in awe of our mothers and sisters and wives. This, I believe, Dienekes, is the essence of women's courage and why it, as you suggested, is superior to men's.
"What you say is true, Ariston. I had never thought of it in that way before. Yet something must be added. If women's victory were simply to stand dry-eyed as their sons march off to death, this would not alone by unnatural, but inhuman, grotesque and even monstrous. What elevates an act to the stature of nobility is, I believe, that it is performed in the service of a higher and more selfless cause.
"These women of whom we stand in awe donate their sons' lives to their country, to the people as a whole, that the nation may survive even as their own dear children perish. Like the mother whose story we have heard from childhood who, on learning that all five of her sons had been killed in the same battle, asked only, 'Was our nation victorious?' and, being told that it was, turned for home without a tear, saying only, 'Then I am happy.' Is it not this element--the nobility of setting the whole above the part--that moves us about women's sacrifice?"
--"Gates of Fire," p268-269
So why in the world did I just waste minutes of my life retyping all of that? Do I really think my wife a Spartan wife? Nope, because then that'd make me a Spartan--and I only think myself Spartan-like after a few beers, when I'm not only a Spartan, but Superman, Chesney, and Santana on air guitar, all rolled into one.
That passage from "Gates of Fire" struck me because, the more I'm around my wife--as I have been for this whole Navy/PCS transition--the more I recognize her brand of courage. I'm not marching off to war, at least not yet, but there's been times when I've just watched her, looking to see how she handles different situations, because I know the day will come when I do have to leave, and she'll be alone, and how will she handle it then?
For example, the other day, when I had to tell her that I'll likely only be able to be with her for a day or two when she has the baby, she was disappointed but only said, "It's what we expected; at least you're not deployed." Or when the occassional hardship with the Navy arises, I chalk it up to Navy business and just part of the job, and she understands...Natalie's already moved us across the country without me, and could've easily done so this time, had I again been away...
Courage to me has always been hot-blooded, high-octane testosterone; it's been somewhat of a revelation to see it in its 'female' form as shown by Natalie--a cooler heat, a calm self-sufficiency, a simmering strength underneath the surface. When that day comes for me to be away, I know she'll endure as countless military wives have before her. Because she's Spartan. And I'm Superman. =)

WE MADE IT!

Well, we finally made it to Maryland! We are SO excited to be back on the East Coast. Let me tell ya, in my opinion the driving the whole western side of the US is completely boring! Especially Nevada! There is nothing there except prisons and signs that say..."Prison area, Do not pick up hitchhikers". Don't worry...WE WON'T! We stayed in some pretty interesting places on that side of the US. Then we got to IA and got to see family which was soooo PERFECT! We were so happy to see them! It had been almost a year since BJ got to see both side so it was great that he was able to catch up with them. Then we continued on to the eastern side of the US which was MUCH better! Everything was green, the leaves on trees were changing colors, and man...it was just beautiful! It had been too long since we've seen Fall.
We ended up having to live off base....which is alright...they didn't have a place available until later in the first week of November, soooo we went and did our own house hunting. We found a cute townhouse not too far from the base in a nice residential area. We are pretty happy with our find, and it's only for a year so if we decide otherwise we can look else later on. In the mean time BJ has been doing processing in with the NAVY stuff and doing a bunch of paperwork and this and that. He's pretty excited to get going on it all. However this week he has been on 'house hunting leave'. A type of leave they just give you to go find a house for 10 days ahhaha:) So I'm very thankful he's been around, because our stuff comes today...so we'll have to try get that all moved in, and also this week we had a Dr. appointment at the hospital I'll be delivering at, and he was able to be there for that too! So I'm glad they gave him this leave so we can do all this together!
Only a few more weeks....well 6-7 until our bundle of joy arrives!! We're both getting anxious! We went and found a little girl outfit the other day and we couldn't find the perfect boy outfit, so we are still looking for that..preferrably something with a football or planes on it..ehehhehe:) We'll take both to the hospital and whichever we have...well...that's the outfit it will go home in! We're excited to get the baby room all set up this weekend. I think it might help calm both of our nerves. It will be like Christmas all over again, opening up the boxes....sometimes you forget the things you have until they get revieled (spelling?) to you again from the movers!:)
Anyway....we're pretty pumped to be out here....now ya'll know if you ever need somewhere to visit...COME SEE US! There is SO much to see out here! After our Dr. appt. BJ took me to Arlington Cemetary...and that was just a pretty cool expierence in itself! You could spend hours there! Anyway though....there is so much history here, and all you pay for is the metro and the rest is all free....lots to go see!! I'll get a couple of pics posted soon of our place and the baby room once we get it all set up. Thanks for tuning in......

On The Move

Hey all! Well...we are currently traveling to MD. We have had great travels thus far. Leaving CA wasn't too hard, except having to say goodbye to friends....that wasn't so fun:( But saying goodbye to the weather and the area...yah we were ok. We are just so excited to turn this page in our life and try something new again. After driving for 2 LOONG days and staying in a couple of dives along the way....by the way, never stay in Lovelock....it's the most ghetto place you could be. HAhahah..buuuuut it's a good laugh now. Anyway...we made it to IA and got to see family, and have a GREAT time with them. Again things have changed, but for the better....it's so good to see that family is doing well when we come home. At the moment we are sitting in Dave's apartment in Coralville (he's gone to classs), and we are getting things packed up and getting ready to hit the road again. We got to spend 2 days here with him, which was really good..good bonding for BJ and him. It's kind of sad thinking that this afternoon we will no longer be in IA again for a long time. You truley don't know how much things mean until you are gone and can't be there to see them.....well for one, family, and then also just the scenery of Iowa......we really missed that...the smells, the fields, the towns....man.....we missed it all. So it was really good to get to see that again. Lord willing we will be back in IA again this spring or sooner with the new addition to our family. We are looking forward to that.
Well we don't have a place yet in MD...but hopefully we will find out more about that on Tuesday when we get there. We're hoping that me being not too far from 'ready to pop' will help us get a place sooner....we'll see;) So I will update ya'll more after we get settled in and got our place up and going. We had a WONDERFUL time back home, and it is always the pits to have to say goodbye to our loved ones:( But ya'll are more than welcome to come to visit us whenever! Hope you do:) Until next time....