January 25: International Day of Education

In Sokrates’ words, “education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” He was a fan of the idea that people have to think for themselves, and actively engage in looking for answers. In that light, there’s a lesson to be learned from the myth about the titan brothers Prometheus (meaning “forethought”) and Epimetheus (meaning “afterthought”). Zeus had given them both the task to assign various attributes to the freshly created animals and humans. While Prometheus stood at the drawing board, studying the needs of each individual being, Epimetheus went straight ahead. He had loads of fun, providing the animals with useful traits, like claws, horns, speed, sharp teeth, fur and so on, leaving humans weak and naked. Prometheus was left with no other choice than to steal fire and mechanical arts from the gods, so that humans would have a chance of surviving. Which cost him dearly. Just a little thoughtfullness would have made all the difference, and whould have provided us with claws and horns. Sexy.