Ziad K. Abdennour, President and CEO of Black Hawk Partners once said, “Trust is earned, respect is given, and loyalty is demonstrated. Betrayal of any one of those is to lose all three,” (Quotefancy). Odysseus, king of Ithaca and his dwindling crew have been wandering for 10 years since the Trojan War. During this time, they were involved in a series of adventures and faced many obstacles as they struggled to return home to their families. Without honest, cooperative soldiers Odysseus would never have returned home to his wife and son. There are many intriguing themes and symbols throughout the Odyssey. I find the most important symbol to be the Sirens, the overall theme being trust and cooperation. As these two fundamental principles combine, any team will have unbelievable success.
Trust is
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The Odyssey explains one of the many trials Odysseus faced on his journey home, “Odysseus returns to Circe’s Island. The goddess reveals his course to him and gives advice on how to avoid the dangers he will face: the Sirens, who lure sailors to their destruction,” (Homer 580). Circe tells Odysseus he must sail through the siren’s land and listen to them sing; however, he cannot give in to their cunning devices. First Odysseus has to trust Circe and use discernment to decide whether he should trust the goddess or not. Odysseus and Circe both respected each other and eventually, trust came. After hearing this message, Odysseus, being his cunning self comes up with a plan. He tells his crew their situation and explains their task. Again, the story, The Odyssey shares, “Therefore you are to tie me up, tight as a splint, erect along the mast, lashed to the mast, and if I shout and beg to be untied, take more turns of the rope to muffle me,’” (Homer 581). The leader must trust the crew and the crew the leader. The men trusted Odysseus; everyone respected him as a leader. They all trusted his plan and went along with it,