FIRE by Dan Ward

Author:Dan Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher
Published: 2013-03-11T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Cutting the Gordian Knot

The best part about serving in Afghanistan was the opportunity to work alongside soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines from so many other nations. The small team I led during my brief stay was made up of officers from five different countries, and I variously reported to generals from Italy, Germany, and France in addition to my American commanders. In keeping with the fine tradition of militaries traveling on their stomachs, I ate waffles with the Belgians, had maple syrup with Canadians, and enjoyed a surreally delicious duck à l’orange in the French general’s dining facility. I even sampled a tin of military rations from Croatia, but frankly I preferred the French cuisine. I’m sure my Croatian friend, Major Srecko Gojic, understands.

The Macedonians were a particularly fascinating group. They frequently invited me to drink their thick Macedonian coffee and spoke proudly of their homeland at every opportunity. One day, while I chewed my way through a particularly buzz-inducing cup, they informed me that the historical figure I know as Alexander the Great goes by a different name in Skopje. His modern descendants refer to him as simply “Alexander the Macedonian,” presumably because great and Macedonian are synonyms in their native tongue.

I mention Alexander the Great Macedonian because of the way he dealt with the fibrous labyrinth known as the Gordian knot. For those unfamiliar with the story, the short version is that he untangled this famously complicated bit of macramé by slicing it in half with a sword. This act signified his qualification to become king of Asia based on a conveniently retrospective prophecy.

That’s pretty much the whole story, although the way my Macedonian friends told it gave me plenty of time for a second cup of coffee. Fortunately, I wasn’t planning to sleep that week anyway.

As an American, I never quite subscribed to monarchical government structures, so my opinion on qualifications for becoming royalty is woefully uninformed. Therefore, whether or not Alexander’s solution made him suitable to be king is a topic I’m entirely unqualified to address. Purely as a matter of personal preference, I suppose I would rather have a decisive king with creative problem-solving skills like Alexander than a royal who dithers and ponders and gets all tangled up in the intricacies of intractable problems like Hamlet, but all the same, I prefer to vote for my leaders.

Anyway, the thing to understand about the Gordian knot is that it was opaque. The outer layers obscured the inner bends and twists, preventing even the most skilled knotsman from visually comprehending the situation. It didn’t matter how rigorously Alexander and his advisors measured, weighed, or mapped the knot—its core retained secrets untold.

While no one could possibly comprehend the complexities within this enigma of entanglement without an as-yet-uninvented X-ray machine, the man who would be king nevertheless perceived a solution. He realized that untangling the knot did not require a PhD-level understanding of the knot. The fastest, most effective, and most direct route to the center of that tangle was to use the edge of his sword.

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