Pygmalion and Galatea

The story of Galatea begins with a sculptor, Pygmalion, and his wife, Cynisca. Because she was often away, Cynisca encouraged Pygmalion to take interest in the statue of Galatea. One day, the statue was granted the gift of life. However, because she was so innocent, she was received as wayward and disruptive. Cynisca also began to grow jealous of Cynisca, and it is because of this jealousy that Galatea decides that her life had been happier living as a simple statue and thus becomes a statue once more.

The ending of this story is what I find to be the most interesting aspect of it; I am sure many of us have at, some point, wanted to just... well, stop. For many of us, especially as we are transitioning from high school into college, may feel overwhelmed or overworked and, maybe for just a day, would like to not have any responsibility whatsoever and not feel compelled to do anything, or as the story puts it, to become a statue. Yet, when I read this story, I found it odd that Galatea would want to return to her "life" as a statue, to give up the gift of humanity just because she was slightly stressed. Our humanity, the need to constantly improve upon what has come before for the benefit of those that come after and our ability to clearly interpret the world around us, comes with both its positives and negatives, and while the positives may not outweigh the negatives for some while others may find such hardships too much to bare, I believe that the ability to live, fully experience, and enjoy life is a quality that simply cannot be replicated without possessing that human quality. Therefore, although there are times where you may want to simply give up, remember just how much you can gain in your life by fully reaching your potential that could only be provided by your humanity; trust me, it will be quite a bit more than what you would gain by simply staying in your bed all day instead.

As for a character I would like brought to life.... Well, I don't really have one. While there are many fictional characters I personally do enjoy, I do not believe that they would mesh well with the real world.