By JESSICA GLEASON
As a mythological character, Cupid is paradoxical, according to Norbert Duckwitz, an assistant professor of mythology and Greek. 'The older he becomes, the younger he becomes,' said Duckwitz.
In Greek mythology Cupid was known as Eros, the god of love. Apparently the Greeks thought the god of love should be more feminine, so they demoted Eros in title and age. Instead of a gorgeous young man, he became a naked baby. Aphrodite became the goddess of love, and Eros was her son and sidekick.
When the Romans took over everything Greek, they changed Eros to Cupid. Now he is known as a fat baby in a diaper that shoots arrows to make people fall in love.
Whether Cupid is a help or a hindrance for love is up for debate.
Cougareat patrons could tell as Daniel Bos and Melissa Davies, both 18-year-old freshmen from Houston, shared a pint of Ben and Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream that they had a favorable opinion of Cupid.
Davies smiled at her sweetheart and remarked that Cupid 'Has good aim.'
Not everyone is so excited about the cherub. 'He's a fat little white man that shoots people with arrows. Doesn't sound romantic to me,' said Margaret Blankenbiller, 19, a freshman majoring in sociology from Rapid City, S.D.
Nobody could have agreed with Blankenbiller more than Daphne of Greek mythology. Eros, or Cupid, had two different arrows: lead and gold. When hit with a gold arrow you fall in love, but if you catch a lead arrow you are NOT interested.
Some goddesses were jealous of Daphne because she was not only the daughter of a river god, but the handsome Apollo was smitten with her. So they got Eros to shoot Apollo with a gold arrow to make him hopelessly in love with Daphne, and then shot her with a lead arrow so she couldn't stand the sight of him.
So affected by the power of Cupid's arrow, Apollo pursued Daphne until she prayed to Mother Earth for deliverance from him. As an escape, Daphne was changed into a laurel tree.
Apollo was not easily beaten. He didn't consider Daphne's transformation as a setback. He thereafter wore laurel leaves in his hair.
Few BYU students have been changed into trees to escape a bad relationship, but not everyone likes Cupid and that thing he does.
Christine Kemeny, 23, a senior English major from Troy, Mich., doesn't like Cupid because 'I'm opposed to violence. He's not my favorite Valentine icon. I love Valentine's Day . . . I like hearts much better.'
Some students, although in favor of Cupid in general, are a little dubious of his tactics.
Maurie Perkins, a 21-year-old sophomore from Mesquite, Nev. majoring in political science, says, 'He snuck up on me, really. It wasn't like I was looking for Cupid. He's pretty clever.'
Bos agreed, saying, 'He's kind of a prankster. He can be serious, but he also sometimes just does it for his own entertainment.'
Not everyone is influenced by Cupid's gold-tipped darts. Matt Weed, a 24-year-old senior Chinese major from Mercede, Calif., has decided, 'I must have anti-Cupid deodorant on. I'm in the 'No Cupid' zone.'
It could be hopeless, though, to think of anyone as arrow-proof. Even Cupid himself is subject to the power of love. With orders to punish the mortal Psyche for her goddess-rivaling beauty, Cupid instead fell heels-over-wings for her.
Sooner or later, he finds us all, and as Bos says, 'He shoots in the heart with the arrow of looove.'