ALL ABOUT ME

This blog is about me, what I do and where I go, what gets my attention, what I think and how I feel. I realize that my take on this journey is nothing more than what it is, just me, and I write to understand as much as to be understood. So when I stray off the beaten path it shouldn’t surprise anyone. I remember Andy Rooney from the TV program, ’60 Minutes’. His little rants and sidebars took us places we didn’t expect to go, maybe didn’t even want to go but you knew he had done his homework and he pursued his purpose rightously. I aspire to be like Andy. Now that I think about it, I’ve never been able to zero in on a personal hero of my own. I admire many characters but not as heroes. Joseph Campbell, ‘Hero With A Thousand Faces’ profiles the nature and evolution of the Hero.  I have a storyteller friend in Dallas, TX who seethes with scorn for Campbell and his hero talk. She does so because in all of his writing he alludes to the hero in masculine terms. I will forgive him that transgression seeing he was a mid 20th century scholar and masculine was the norm. History hasn't cast many women as heroes but you can’t judge history by today’s standard, not fairly anyway.

Campbell’s hero, usually a warrior, would of necessity trek off into the world and experience life changing events. Learning lessons that could only be learned out there on the edge, he would return a changed man with attributes that set him apart from other, lesser men. Heroes were revered at large, legends in their own time. Late in life, regarding gender issues, Campbell agreed enthusiastically that gender had no role in the hero's journey. His point, ultimately, was that we all experience the hero’s journey, one way or another. In the end he observes that; ". . . we can not cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy." The nature of one’s journey is all important but the measure of the hero is who pays attention and is he/she revered. Pacifist’s who harbored and protected Jews during the holocaust were as heroic as warriors who waged blood and thunder but their courage and deeds were not publicized. 

It’s normal growing up with role models we admire and aspire to be like. Whether or not they made the hero’s journey is of little concern to a naive kid. All you need to impress and influence a teenager is to be relatively successful at something and to be cool. One of my early heroes, if you will, was Mickey Mantle, ‘The Mic’, pride of the New York Yankees. But for all of his talent, fame and fortune he died tragically, a model for what not to do. 

Now that I think about it, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) would rank high on my ‘Hero’ list. I love his quotes; he was relatively successful I’d say, and I think he is absolutely cool. His journey left him with a rare mix of skepticism and humor. “There is no sadder thing than a young pessimist, except an old optimist.” I take that to mean, life is cruel and if you’re lucky, you learn to squeeze out the joy, like juice from a green lemon. He also remarked, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” How do you embellish that little gem? That’s it for me for today. You can have all of your politicians and warriors, your athletes and your tycoons; they fall short, leaving me disappointed, still searching for a hero worthy of Rooney and Clemens. They will have to do until I find someone, alive hopefully, who can add to the shadow they cast.