After finishing The Epic of Gilgamesh, a few things stood out to me that I think can be related to our time...The first deals with the transformation that took place within Gilgamesh after Enkidu's death. As we saw in the forest prior to his friend's death, Gilgamesh's view on life was that it should be lived to the absolute fullest. Instead of just sitting back and living in fear of death, he wanted to go out and make a name for himself by doing heroic deeds (such as killing Humbaba, slaying the Bull of Heaven, etc.). Before he and Enkidu face Humbaba, Gilgamesh even states that to die doing something courageous is better than living without taking chances...However, once Enkidu bites the dust, Gilgamesh suddenly becomes terrified at the thought of death and does everything he can to prevent his own. When you think about it, there's plenty of people who can relate to such a situation. In current times, when people lose someone close to them (especially a best friend), it really can affect what they believe and how willing they are to take chances.
I think the other relation to our society from this story also deals with Gilgamesh after Enkidu's death. I feel like many of us spend our time wishing we could be something that we're not. This "something" could be a number of things (a pro football player, an astronaut, America's next top model, etc.), but in Gilgamesh's situation it was an immortal being. Instead of wishing to be something we're not, I feel that we should make the most of what we have in accordance with what we're "called" to do...Siduri offers the same type of advice to Gilgamesh saying that instead of looking for something he could never find, he should spend more time focusing on the good things in life that he can enjoy. Don't get me wrong: it's great to set goals and to "aim high" in life, but at the same time I think we should know our limits and live within them...
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