The flight of Icarus

I would like to share a Greek mythology with you. This is not about Odysseus nor Sisyphus - it's about the story of Daedalus and more importantly, his son Icarus. You might not have heard of Daedalus but surely, you must have heard of the Minotaur. The Minotaur is the half man half bull creature that is found in the Labyrinth of Crete. There is a great story of how Theseus, the 'real' son of Poseidon (not the Hollywood fake version of Percy Jackson), survived the labyrinth and defeated the Minotaur. Daedalus, the craftsman who built the labyrinth, had to escape with his son Icarus. He thus built a pair of wings, one for each of them and gave his son strict instructions not to fly too high up near the Sun for the wax on the wings will melt and he will surely perish.

Icarus's over-confidence got the better of him

Icarus followed his father closely in the beginning, never straying too far from him. However, the adrenaline that surely must have pumped in his veins made him high and most importantly, made him forget about the dangers that was warned by Daedalus before taking on this journey. The initial cautiousness gave way to recklessness as Icarus flew higher and higher up the sky. So confident of his own ability to control his flight that Icarus could no longer hear Daedalus's warning.


Alas, it was too late. As Icarus flew higher up towards the Sun, the wax that attached the wings to his body melted and soon, he was flailing his bare hands in vain as he dropped like a stone into the sea.


Moral of the story:

If it's quite a bullish time, always be careful when the price of your stocks go higher and higher. Icarus had forgotten that the half-bull had been killed by Theseus and ignores his father's warning not to aim so high up the sky... to his own peril.