Beware the Ides of March

The soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March," has forever imbued that date with a sense of foreboding. But in Roman times the expression "Ides of March" didn’t evoke a dark mood. It was simply the standard way of saying "March 15." Even in Shakespeare’s time, sixteen centuries later, audiences attending his play Julius Caesar wouldn't have thought twice about hearing the date called the Ides. Ides is Ides and nothing more.

Plutarch wrote that Caesar was warned days ahead of time by a soothsayer. The story goes that on the way to the Senate that fateful day, Caesar saw the soothsayer and yelled to him laughingly, “the Ides have come!” To which the soothsayer replied, “Aye, but they have not gone!”

Caesar didn’t heed the warning. Somewhere along the way, he lost sight that there is a place for what we might call a “healthy fear,” vs. an “unhealthy anxiety.” Fear is a natural response to real or perceived danger that passes, once danger has passed. Anxiety is an unnatural, worried response that lingers and keeps us from being our best.

My favorite definition of worry is “negative hope.” It is best to greet each day with positive realistic hope and enthusiasm. Yet, as Jules learned, being positive doesn’t mean totally ignoring or denying real issues.

Et tu Brute?