There is an old story about how the city of Athens got its name that goes as follows. One day, the people of the City saw in the middle of the Agora a spring of fresh water and an olive tree where before there had been neither. Now, these were taken to be auspicious signs and were thus brought to an oracle for interpretation. The oracle declared that the these could be taken as gifts from either Poseidon or Athena and that a vote should be taken to determine which of the two the City would be named after. In those days it was the custom that both the men and the women would vote on public issues and it so happened that when the vote had been taken, the women outnumbered the men by one, and all of them had voted that Athena be the namesake of the City. Poseidon was so enraged at this that he caused a tidal wave to inundate the whole area and killed many. When the waters had subsided, the men of the city came together and decided that the women must be punished for what had happened in order to supplicate the angry god. Thus, from that day on it was decided that women would never be allowed to be full citizens ever again, nor would they be allowed to call their children by their own names ever again, nor would they be allowed to vote ever again. In so doing, the men of the City proved themselves more fearful of the chaos of Poseidon's waves than the reason and justice of Athena's weapons. An ancient story as this is, it is a metaphor for the world we live in now. All too often we find ourselves swayed by fear and chaos rather than guided by wisdom and influenced by courage.

So what are you more afraid of? Poseidon's waves, or Athena's weapons?