Personal Essay

On Flying Too Close to the Sun

As Daedalus told Icarus, never go too low or too high.

Red Sunset, Arkhyp Kuindzhi, 1905–08 | Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access Program (Kuindzhi was Ukrainian. In May of 2022, the Kuindzhi Art Museum was destroyed in a Russian air strike).

This is a story about obedience to a rule that probably doesn’t exist. But just in case it does, I follow it because the consequences of disobedience are too great.

The rule: never ask or strive for too much. This is especially true if you…