Love Triangles... Nothing New

As I was reflecting on the recent news story about the astronaut who was charged with attempted murder of a woman who she perceived as her "romantic rival," it occurred to me that I had already heard this story before - many times in fact. This woman, Lisa Nowak, became very jealous when she thought that another woman, Colleen Shipman, was involved with "her man," William Oefelein who is also an astronaut. So, Lisa drove more than 900 miles to accost and perhaps harm Colleen.

Her jealousy and the great lengths she goes to to threaten and punish this woman, who may or may not have been involved with the object of her obsession, remind me of Hera. She is forever infuriated by Zeus and his affairs with other women, but she takes it out on his lovers instead of him.

In the story of Io, Zeus of course falls in love with her, and in order to hide Io and himself from Hera, he first tries enveloping the earth in thick clouds. But, Hera is on to them, so when she comes down to earth, Zeus kindly turns poor Io into a white heifer. Hera insists on him giving the cow to her as a gift, which he cannot refuse; otherwise he will confirm her suspicions. Then Hera has Argus, the thing with a hundred eyes, watch Io. So, Zeus sends his son Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to the rescue. Hermes plays lovely songs on his reed pipe and tells stories to try to put Argus to sleep in order to abscond with Io. However, this is a very difficult task, because usually he sleeps with some of his eyes open. At long last Hermes is successful in getting him to shut all one hundred of his eyes, and then he kills Argus. (And, Hera put his eyes on the tail of the peacock, her favorite bird.) Hera is still very mad, so she sends a gad-fly to torment Io, which keeps her on the run for a very long time. When she finally reaches the Nile, Zeus restores her, and she lives happily ever after.

A jealous woman is never a good thing. And, I don't think that in the astronaut's case there will be a happy ending. Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on one's perspective), Lisa Nowak was not a goddess. But, her antics have inflicted suffering on all those involved, including her own family. And as Io was plagued by Hera's wrath, certainly Colleen Shipman will be afraid that crazy Lisa might make another attempt on her life and be successful this time. (Although, Lisa Nowak is wearing a monitoring device.) If there is a lesson to be learned from this, perhaps it is that it is best to stay away from those who frequently hang out above the earth; they seem to be capable of wreaking a lot of havoc.