Welcome gentles again unto our play!

Yes,  That is right!  I have not been dissuaded from my folly upon this internet.  Nor have I managed to dissuade my good friends from wishing I disseminate this folly ONTO the internet.  They are a good  people but I worry for their sanity.  If they believe me and my self deprecating demeanor to be worthy of their time,  imagine what else they may believe.  Unicorns?  UFO’s?  Big foot?  The Status Quo?….yeesh.

Today,  I have stumbled upon another topic well worn by my betters.  The idea that “Everyone is the Hero in their own story.”  I remember the first time I heard that phrase and was filled with hope.  “I can be a hero?!”  I exclaimed!  Silently of course,  in my bedroom late at night with the light out.  Also,  some times when the parents were not at home and I had some music playing very loudly.

The idea that I could be a hero set me on a path.  It pushed me towards legends of great philosopher kings and warriors who fought for righteousness.  These were Great leaders of people.  Always they pushed towards the betterment of all above themselves.  Although glory was at hand, they would make the hard decisions and ultimately sacrifice all.  Fighting with sword and intelligence to gain freedom and justice in the name of Good.

As I grew older my perception and knowledge changed.

It is a funny thing to learn that YOUR heroes were not everyones Heroes.  In fact many would show me evidence that these giants of Good were in fact Evil.  They showed me facts and accounts and histories to Prove that my Heroes were Villains.  All I had were the Stories and the Feelings that they gave me.  The hope, the guidance and the morality that they gave me were not enough in the blinding light of hard FACTS.

So, my will was shaken.  My Heroes were Villians?  An awful bait and switch to be sure. Imagine going to the cinema to see your favorite action star.  Instead, when you buy your ticket, you are bashed round the head with a sock filled with quarters.  Then you are arrested for being in the way of the cashiers’ sock as he was practicing his Hammer Throw.  Alright,  that might be a bit of metaphoric stretch, but you get the gist.

I was left rudderless.  I had spent my childhood in search of valiance in myself.  I nurtured the qualities I saw in these heroes.  I worked to mold myself in their image.  Now that image was destroyed.  Beset by the true deeds of these people as history recorded it,  how could these monoliths stand.  Worse yet, to have their very existence smudged out by the lack of proof of their births/deaths.  The stories that they figured heavily in were just that, stories.  Everything I was working toward was now baseless and hollow.

But, how could that be?  How could these legendary heroes have been remembered if what they did and who they were not have been rooted in fact?  So, I began tunneling through histories.  From the moment I first read these tales I searched backward all the way to the earliest mention of them.  And I did it for all my favorites!  Needless to say I spent the majority of my teens/ twenties either in coffee shops surrounded by ancient books or in libraries.  On both occasions, if you would have seen me,  I would have looked something akin to Gollum.  Gaunt with unkempt hair and lacking in any social skills, I soldiered on.

What I found In my obsessive searching (which, as you may be able to tell continues to this day.) is that although I could not find hard evidence of the factual existence of my heroes, their stories were held in great veneration by the “real” Heroes that I could.  All of history’s greatest followed these tales to enhance themselves with the qualities of these legends.  So, in believing these stories of great heroes they created History.

This was a revelation.  Heroes DO exist.  Not only that their stories Create our Factual history through the deeds of those that followed their example.  By this token I was transported back to my “Exclamations as scored by the loud music in my parents living room” days.  “I can be a hero!”  I was now emboldened in this fact.  If I follow in the path of my great Heroes,  then I can be a hero!  I can write my own legend and be regarded as someone who embodies all these facets of Herodom (SP) through Heroism.

Now, I know what you are thinking.  “How many more times can this codger use the word Hero?!?!”  This is however secondary to our main course of inquiry.  So,  it will be addressed at a later time.  The truth is MANY MORE TIMES!!!

I wore this new realization as a full plate of armor.  That was until a few months ago.  I began to hear people use the all important phrase “Everyone is the Hero of their own story.” in a negative context.  It was used to point out behaviors in people that were not heroic in the least.  It was interchangeable with saying “That person does whatever selfish or evil thing they want.  They believe they are the hero in their story no matter what.”  This horrifed me.

To ally or use the word Hero in that context felt like those same people coming back to haunt me.  They usurped a phrase I had reclaimed and greatly identified with.  It was the same statement of the falseness of “imaginary Heroes”.  In other words those on the page and those in our minds.  “Those that do not physically exist within the shared objective world by definition cannot be heroic.”  These minds were coming to tear down my tower again.

This time however, I was ready for them.  Years of study of the histories of the world and of our mythologies taught me a very important piece of information.  Wether in the news or in a textbook.  Wether in our minds or in front of our eyes.  True heroism lies in the meaning or intent of the hero themselves.  All else is the meaning or intent that the witness of the heroic act imparts on it.   True heroism does not exist in a vacuum.

Wow, ok what did I just say?  I know my good friends in the Trollsphere (SP) are just chomping at the bit on that last paragraph.  I am happy to announce that I cannot wait to see the Torrents of Favor you will bestow upon me.  I thank you very much for your time and Bile.  A hero needs a Witness.  They do not need validation, laurels, gold, respect or even the continuation of their lives.  They do need a Witness.  Now that is probably a daft word to use, Witness but, I am not a linguist or, in the eyes of many of peers, in possession of a fully functioning brain.  Apparently I also do not know how to use commas but, I digress.

By Witness I mean another person, nation or foe.  More importantly I also mean, themselves.  For the hero is at all times in direct conversation with themselves.  Their True Self or the “Third Stage” as I call it.  This is the center of their being that is showing the hero what they can be.  A conscience would probably be a better term.  Unfortunately, most “rational” people do not believe in such things.  Only that a man is a man and will always do the easy thing.  They will always be evil when the chips are down and will abandon nobility when it is too difficult.  The Hero does none of those things and that is their Importance.  Humanity rises to its truest Nobility when it becomes a Hero.

Heroism is inherent with in us.  It shows it self constantly.  Many see it as selfless acts.  Through the combat of injustice on all its scales, the Hero fights on.  Although its willingness to sacrifice itself for others seems to be entirely selfless it cannot be and is not.  Because the Hero needs to satisfy itself on the validity and Goodness of its action.  It is “Selfful” (SP) not to be misconstrued as Selfish.   The “Selfful” hero exists as we all do, as part of The All of existence.  The Hero merely scrutinizes the deeds they do based on the importance of the quality of life and continuation of the existence of other parts of The All.  It always coincides with deep personal revelation.  Be it a constant act of introspection or an instantaneous awakening, it always arrives.

Therefore I hereby throw my lot in with “Everyone is the Hero of their own story.”  I might make a slight adjustment.  “Every Hero is the Witness to their own story.”  We are the implementation and the catalyst of our lives.  We also stand witness to the fruits of living.

Thanks again for stopping in and reading through my rambling nonsense.  As always I thank my intrepid friends for continuing to prod me into this new millennium.  Also, for being the scribes and Witnesses to my story.

PS:

“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson