Pain and Pressure

At this point in the semester things are starting to become even more difficult in the studying aspect of school.  Everything is starting to ramp up, even though it isn't even the middle of the school year, and the tension in everyone's faces is starting to appear.  While it isn't as bad as during dead week (or preparation week as I have also heard it called), it still doesn't feel pleasant.  My goal of not drinking a strong, espresso loaded coffee every morning has been left in the dust and the drink has now become vital, a recurring ritual if you may. 

In class, when talking about habits, or rituals, Fallon had said that make-up was a ritual for her.  While this seemed the most appropriate and straightforward of common rituals for females, I would be lying if I said I took the time to do my make-up every day.  Some mornings it is nothing more than looking in the mirror and making sure I don't look too scary before heading to class.  So once again I was stuck with the lingering question of what my ritual was.

Today in class, though, the wheels started to turn.  Every Tuesday and Thursday I have an Anatomy and Physiology Lab.  Currently, we are learning about the bones of the axial and appendicular skeleton.   While my lab partner and I worked on the bones of the legs, pubic arch and upper extremities, I happened to look over and see one of our TA's leaning over with her arms in a movement resembling holding a heavy burden on her back.  In one of her hands she held a vertebrae, which I quickly recognized as the first cervical vertebrae, or the atlas. 

It is named so because it is the first bone to come in contact with the sphere- like skull, and is responsible for holding it upright. 

But the thing about the bone that sparked my attention mostly, was the mythological connection between this bone, that is so vital in our ability to function the way we do.  What my TA was showing, as she bent over, was the position that Atlas, the titan from Greek mythology was punished to for eternity by Zeus, or the Roman Jove.   Atlas made a mistake that Tiresias made, taking the wrong side.  In a war between the Titans and Olympians, Atlas was on the side of the Titans, and when he and his comrades lost, he was punished by being made to hold the sky on his shoulders.  The common interpretation of his story now is seen by his holding of the world on his shoulders. 

Atlas

Although Atlas brought his punishment upon his own shoulders, I did start to think about initiations as a burden in some ways.  It is obvious that the weight of the world is painful to Atlas.  I just started to think about school related to a painful pressure that students experience, but in the long run students then become a part of a greater group of educated individuals.  A student wanting to go to Medical school must make it through this rite of passage in order to be deemed as fit to serve others a medical provider.  This leads back to the school being our Alma Mater.  At the end of these few years we have here we will go through a ceremony and then on to the next step, which will also have a beginning middle and end.