I’ve always really disliked epics. I was brought up on fairie tales where the heroes were young, they had a great adventure and then they lived “happily ever after”. The great epics like the Odyssey and the Iliad really bothered me. The Trojan war lasted ten years?! And then poor Ulysses who was responsible for finally figuring out a way to end it got lost going home and that took him another ten years. I always found those stories that just went on and on, and on, extremely frustrating. Maybe it’s because the heroes never get any time to celebrate their achievements. Guys like Hercules had one trial after another and then they died.
If Ulysses, who was the King of Ithaca, became the king in his twenties then he was in his thirties when he finally got to sail home to his wife from Troy. His wife, who hadn’t seen him in ten years, is now also probably in her thirties but will still have to wait another ten years, until she’s in her forties to finally have him return. When he does come home he is able to successfully disguise himself as an old man enough to not be recognized by his former friends and neighbors. At forty or maybe even in his fifties, he is an old man. Who wants an adventure that takes you away from your home and everybody you love for the better part of your lifetime? That’s not a grand adventure, that’s a life sentence.
And now, alas, I have discovered that my own adventure is not the faire tale with the happily ever after ending I once believed it would be but rather an epic. I now realize that life is a series of small adventures, of tiny accomplishments, and that one leads up to, or directly is the cause, of the next and the culmination of these events is what constitutes a life. Maybe the record I made didn’t go Platinum, or Gold, or Silver, or Bronze, but hey, I made a record. The problem is when viewed through the eyes of those around you it seems every little adventure you have, if it’s creative, is seen as a failure if it doesn’t make money. Hercules had to clean out a stable and kill a lion and didn’t make a cent for it but we’re talking about him today because he did it. Whereas, King Midas, the Greek king so rich everything he touched turned to gold, literally, we only know today as a sad, pathetic character in a cautionary tale.
With the passage of time the financial and social successes we have in our lifetimes will not be remembered or appreciated, it will be what we leave behind for others that will be our legacy. That may be art or music that is put out into the universe (Internet) for all to discover at some future time, or perhaps the founding of an organization or school of thought, or just a line of progeny that grows into an social unit with influence in the world of its own.
For us, now, it’s the journey, not the destination, that matters and our stories are important not because of the riches we acquire along the way but because of the entertainment and educational aspects they depart to those who hear them and choose to follow in our path.
If Ulysses, who was the King of Ithaca, became the king in his twenties then he was in his thirties when he finally got to sail home to his wife from Troy. His wife, who hadn’t seen him in ten years, is now also probably in her thirties but will still have to wait another ten years, until she’s in her forties to finally have him return. When he does come home he is able to successfully disguise himself as an old man enough to not be recognized by his former friends and neighbors. At forty or maybe even in his fifties, he is an old man. Who wants an adventure that takes you away from your home and everybody you love for the better part of your lifetime? That’s not a grand adventure, that’s a life sentence.
And now, alas, I have discovered that my own adventure is not the faire tale with the happily ever after ending I once believed it would be but rather an epic. I now realize that life is a series of small adventures, of tiny accomplishments, and that one leads up to, or directly is the cause, of the next and the culmination of these events is what constitutes a life. Maybe the record I made didn’t go Platinum, or Gold, or Silver, or Bronze, but hey, I made a record. The problem is when viewed through the eyes of those around you it seems every little adventure you have, if it’s creative, is seen as a failure if it doesn’t make money. Hercules had to clean out a stable and kill a lion and didn’t make a cent for it but we’re talking about him today because he did it. Whereas, King Midas, the Greek king so rich everything he touched turned to gold, literally, we only know today as a sad, pathetic character in a cautionary tale.
With the passage of time the financial and social successes we have in our lifetimes will not be remembered or appreciated, it will be what we leave behind for others that will be our legacy. That may be art or music that is put out into the universe (Internet) for all to discover at some future time, or perhaps the founding of an organization or school of thought, or just a line of progeny that grows into an social unit with influence in the world of its own.
For us, now, it’s the journey, not the destination, that matters and our stories are important not because of the riches we acquire along the way but because of the entertainment and educational aspects they depart to those who hear them and choose to follow in our path.
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