GOLIATH

Who told you that he wasn't the underdog? I wrote the book (short story) on the larger-than-life myth and now you can read it!

DAVID! DAVID! DAVID!

David and Goliath. David and Goliath! It’s always David and Goliath, and then later it’s KING DAVID. What about Goliath?

There are like two total verses in the bible about Goliath, yet he’s this everlasting symbol of--- I don’t know, David “overcomes” Goliath. David is THEE underdog, and Goliath is this giant monster warrior savage or something.

I don’t think so, though. If Goliath was something more than the bible, whose books are written by the most imaginative writers, even if they’re rewriting non-fiction, they definitely took their share of literary licenses, they would have written at least a tall tale or two of the giant’s prowess. Surely!

But no. He’s introduced and killed off, little more attention than a standard background extra.

This could mean a couple of things.

IT’S A CONSPIRACY!

It’s a blatant effort to remove Goliath from the history books. The man was, in fact, a giant, and stories of his dominance, his victories, his deeds, thoughts, and beliefs swept the nation. They kept children up at night. Kept men on alert and their women too. He was a tsunami of a man, and he was coming for more. His greatness was a threat to someone’s (or just some) power.

He was an oddity and an anomaly. Greatness in human skin, and he had to be struck down from the living and from the books. Two verses, that’s all we spare; otherwise, you’ll never die.

In fact, we’ll make you a symbol, that way we don’t have to erase you from history. Efforts to do that might backfire. We’ll let you live as a failure. The ultimate symbol of failure. You have every physical gift, and you still lose—history’s laughingstock.

OR!, it could mean that Goliath was simply a man. Perhaps a good, maybe even great fighter. A man who won some battles and killed a number of men in war, but did little else, for whatever reasons.

Maybe he was just a man, maybe he was larger than life. Either way, now he’s a myth.

REAL LIFE GOLIATH

I don’t just sympathize with Goliath. I am a Goliath. At 6’8”, 300+lbs, I’m huge, man. Really, really big. And after 41 years of this, I’m sick and tired of average to short-sized men looking at me as a challenge.

Goliath lives in the human subconscious. Rent-free, as the people say these days.

When you’re big, people check in on you less. They reach out less. Because you’re never the underdog. Your size precludes you from that part of life, regardless of whether the challenge you face is size-dependent or not.

“You think, because you’re tall that…” No, no, I don’t. No, nobody tall does. We’re just living. We don’t think that makes us more important, we don’t think that means we’re always right, or whatever accusation might be hurled at us in an argument (or in jest).

Humans constantly judge each other and put each other in mental boxes to determine who they are, what they’re like, and what they might do. When you have a physical feature that’s as dominant visually as height (there are many others that bring the same levels of attention), it’s easier for people to make assumptions, and they make simpler assumptions. Then you’re in a box, somewhere in their mind, and they can put you on the shelf with other boxes. Nothing else to figure out here. Big guy. Black (in my case). Got it. He must be like this.

There is another important distinction, which is whether I seem aggressive or not. Loud, big, Black man or gentle giant. Once that’s determined, that’s it. Determinations are finalized. There’s nothing left to figure out. I might as well be a pole holding up the ceiling or a tree outside, a decoration. But barely a person.

At best, a Goliath.

Is that a name or a title or a description?

I can never really tell…

INSPIRATION

I wrote this on a whim. You can find the first chapter here, which I wrote in one sitting, just toying with the idea. It’s been edited and revised for the short story.

The idea of who Goliath could have been intrigued me. More accurately, it tickled me to think about because it seems like a missed opportunity. I’m not a scholar of those times, so I made up everything. I wonder if someone more learned about that period could add some factual depth to it. I also left out much discussion about God and opposing sides, as well as battling religions. It’s in there, but again, someone studied could add much to that part of the story, or take it in another direction entirely.

But wow, right? Can someone say prequel mini-series? Amazon just released the story of David, and it ends with a version of his battle with the mighty Goliath. We could do 8 episodes on how Goliath got there, too!

As I have thought about it, nothing comes to mind as a reason why I wrote this. It just came to mind. It’s as simple as that.

Yes, I do have thoughts and feelings about the Goliath myth, but they don’t haunt me. I don’t constantly think about that, but when the term comes up, which it does relatively often, especially if you’re a sports fan, which I am, I often bristle and grunt my disapproval.

Hey! Who told you that Goliath wasn’t the underdog?

How do you know?!

Are you sure?

Was Goliath as America to David’s Vietnam? If so, who was really the underdog, given the circumstances????

Why was David allowed to use a projectile? Was that legal? Nobody saw that as a problem? People weren’t dumb then. It seems something was afoot!

I had fun writing this story, which I always felt was meant to be a short story. (Hey, if you want a longer version, either write it or commission it. I’m all ears.) A quick journey to biblical times and an exploration of a larger-than-life character.

What would his life have been like? Friends? Lovers? Is he well-liked or feared?

I imagine he was misunderstood. I know I am--- being a really large human. Then again, don’t we all feel that way? Big, small, average, understanding is immune to size.

Who doesn’t feel like the notion of who they are, based on whatever other people see and feel, stereotypes, and things like that, is different from who they truly are, or who they feel they are?

I grabbed these ideas and wrangled them in the time period of the story. Goliath, if he was a large man, and we know he was a warrior, had to fight. There was no NBA back then. Fighting was the sport. Even if he played some sport at the time “professionally”, he was also certainly a soldier.

So, it probably wasn’t entirely his choice to be one.

I started there and pulled the story out from that idea.

BUY! BUY! BUY!

It’s a quick read and a fun one. If there were journals of historical figures, Goliath’s is one I’d love to read, wouldn’t you?

Maybe I’ll start a series, Goliath’s journals. Can someone teach me to channel? Wouldn’t that be fun? Channel Goliath and translate his journals to the written page. Amazing. It’d at least be a great gimmick!

But for this short story, you can find it on Amazon, where buying it helps me more as an author, or on books.by, where buying it helps me more financially. The practical advice says to put your books on multiple platforms, make it easy for people to buy, so for now, that’s what I’ve done.

You can find it here, here, and here.

I think that the main takeaway I have from this is to simply not assume. I do think that there’s a fine line these days between not assuming what you’ve been told is the truth and not believing anything or going down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole that never ends and that’s just a risk we all have to live with, because like the common story of David and Goliath, that old way just won’t work anymore.

Oh, I almost forgot.

The cover is by Nick Ross. Find him on instagram (at) nickbossross He’s great!