flapping without wings

the story of Icarus is not unfamiliar to most.
it's a cautionary tale of Hubris, usually told to arrogant adolescents and the likes, as a warning of what happens to those who do not listen to their elders...

you know what happens when you don't listen to your elders? you fly into the sun and your wax melts and you die. remember that kiddos.

American poet, Jack Gilbert, said that:
"Icarus was not failing as he fell, but just coming to the end of his triumph."
 
it is that cavalier line of thinking that has made Icarus somewhat of a role model for taking risks.
sure you might fail, but won't the view from the top be worth the fall to the bottom?
many are more than willing to take the chance just for a glimpse.
so much so, there's even a complex named for everyone's favorite heliophilic Greek.
Icarus Syndrome refers to an individual who gets carried away by their own success.
such is often one of humanity's many tragic flaws.
we discover our ability to succeed in some aspect of our lives and we throw ourselves head first into it.
allow it to consume us disregarding the sea below us and the sun above us.
in our singular devotion to one aspect the others fail.
success is the symbolic sunlight we unknowingly stretch and strain to reach, only to be undone.
wax melted and flapping without wings.

life, just as in flight, is something that requires balance.
a lesson that is often hard learned.

still learning.

p.s. if  anyone knows how to make humans fly, for real, i want in!