A Reason I’d Die in Olden Times, Pt. 1

There were times in my life—typically while watching some epic war movie like “Gladiator,” “Spartacus,” or “Brave”—during which I thought I would thrive as a primitive man. Whether in Classical times or Medieval ones, I felt that I would be a quick, scrappy fighter or a winsome bard or a cunning thief. Somehow, perhaps solely because I am so woefully inadequate at being in the here and now, I duped myself into actually believing I could thrive in the then and there.

But today I rethought the w...