BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH! I DO!
Definition: On the Ides of March (or March 15), 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was assassinated, at the foot of a statue of Pompey where the Senate was meeting. And a soothsayer warned him prior by saying, “Beware the Ides of March!”
Obviously, Caesar disregarded the soothsayer’s words. One of Caesar’s best friends, Brutus, stabbed him many times; while Caesar was still breathing, his last words were, “Et tu Brute?” Those three words meant: “You too Brutus?” As many as sixty senate members helped in the killing of Caesar.
Down through two thousand years plus, The Ides of March has come to mean a day of being cautious for something bad may happen. Some believe that while others shrug off the notion.
I am not one of them for too many bad things have happened to me on March 15th every single year. You name it and it has happened. Once I fell down a long staircase and a friend was on the other side of the door: I could not get up for a long time. Another time, I had been feeling just fine the night before only to wake up with a high temperature and the flu.
And on and on went the terrible happenstances every year on The Ides of March! Of course when I was teaching, I had to go to work but was always fearful of what might happen. And as always, something would happen—trite or major and not in a good way either.
Last year, on March 15th, I opened up my front door to go outside: The weather was unusually warm and sunny. As I approached my sidewalk, I saw a man parked over from my house: He was in a truck. And he said, “Just stay there pretty girl!” I looked at him and he looked over towards me and repeated that again. No way was I going near him and so I just stood on the sidewalk wondering what he was doing. Several minutes later he left.
Curious me just had to go over past my car to see if he were parked down the hill. I looked down that direction and there was no truck. But when I started back towards my sidewalk, sitting right beside my car was a huge tan pit bull. Brain clicked in that the man was referring to the dog and my brain told me not to run for I knew that dog would pounce on me with incredible ferocity! Walking at a snail’s pace from my car to my front door seemed like it took days. My heart was ready to jump out of me. Somehow, I got inside and breathed a sigh of relief. And told myself that there was no way I was going to leave the house the entire day or night.
And I didn’t. But come the dark, a one-eyed possum appeared in my front yard: You just don’t see those all of the time. In fact, I’ve never seen a possum with one eye—ever. I saw him through my front locked storm door.
I hadn’t eaten dinner for frankly, I had forgotten about it with the pit bull and the possum and so I decided to fry a steak. And what would happen but the skillet caught on fire somehow [no doubt neglect on my part.] Grabbing the seared steak out of the smoking skillet, I managed to get the skillet into the sink and turn on the water. And then the smoke alarm went off!
After controlling the smoke alarm, I put the seared steak on a plate and put it in the refrigerator. And I went to bed having had no dinner but way too much excitement for the day—I just knew that it was going to be bad to begin with and it far exceeded my obvious expectations.
March 15th is not too far away. And trust me, you can be sure that I am not leaving my house, not going outside and no way cooking a steak. I am taking to my bed!
Sherry Hill
Definition: On the Ides of March (or March 15), 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was assassinated, at the foot of a statue of Pompey where the Senate was meeting. And a soothsayer warned him prior by saying, “Beware the Ides of March!”
Obviously, Caesar disregarded the soothsayer’s words. One of Caesar’s best friends, Brutus, stabbed him many times; while Caesar was still breathing, his last words were, “Et tu Brute?” Those three words meant: “You too Brutus?” As many as sixty senate members helped in the killing of Caesar.
Down through two thousand years plus, The Ides of March has come to mean a day of being cautious for something bad may happen. Some believe that while others shrug off the notion.
I am not one of them for too many bad things have happened to me on March 15th every single year. You name it and it has happened. Once I fell down a long staircase and a friend was on the other side of the door: I could not get up for a long time. Another time, I had been feeling just fine the night before only to wake up with a high temperature and the flu.
And on and on went the terrible happenstances every year on The Ides of March! Of course when I was teaching, I had to go to work but was always fearful of what might happen. And as always, something would happen—trite or major and not in a good way either.
Last year, on March 15th, I opened up my front door to go outside: The weather was unusually warm and sunny. As I approached my sidewalk, I saw a man parked over from my house: He was in a truck. And he said, “Just stay there pretty girl!” I looked at him and he looked over towards me and repeated that again. No way was I going near him and so I just stood on the sidewalk wondering what he was doing. Several minutes later he left.
Curious me just had to go over past my car to see if he were parked down the hill. I looked down that direction and there was no truck. But when I started back towards my sidewalk, sitting right beside my car was a huge tan pit bull. Brain clicked in that the man was referring to the dog and my brain told me not to run for I knew that dog would pounce on me with incredible ferocity! Walking at a snail’s pace from my car to my front door seemed like it took days. My heart was ready to jump out of me. Somehow, I got inside and breathed a sigh of relief. And told myself that there was no way I was going to leave the house the entire day or night.
And I didn’t. But come the dark, a one-eyed possum appeared in my front yard: You just don’t see those all of the time. In fact, I’ve never seen a possum with one eye—ever. I saw him through my front locked storm door.
I hadn’t eaten dinner for frankly, I had forgotten about it with the pit bull and the possum and so I decided to fry a steak. And what would happen but the skillet caught on fire somehow [no doubt neglect on my part.] Grabbing the seared steak out of the smoking skillet, I managed to get the skillet into the sink and turn on the water. And then the smoke alarm went off!
After controlling the smoke alarm, I put the seared steak on a plate and put it in the refrigerator. And I went to bed having had no dinner but way too much excitement for the day—I just knew that it was going to be bad to begin with and it far exceeded my obvious expectations.
March 15th is not too far away. And trust me, you can be sure that I am not leaving my house, not going outside and no way cooking a steak. I am taking to my bed!
Sherry Hill
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