We’re back in Taipei, long enough to visit the National Palace Museum. Before moving on, Pa and I want to see its vast collection of ancient Chinese art and artifacts.
And we’ve splurged, staying at the Yusense Hotel, a ten minute walk down the road. We enjoyed our four days at Fish Hostel and Jerry’s Maze, but life has its pleasures and an undisturbed sleep is one of them.
It’s early here. Pa’s sleeping in, but I’ve been thinking . . . about heroes.
Not ancient ones,
or super ones.
Or of guys like Shrek,
though I like him a lot.
Or young women like Moana,
as much as she’s a role model for my granddaughters.
No, I’m thinking about the ordinary ones, extraordinary in their own way. Pa and I‘ve met several since leaving home.
Like the retired woman from Singapore traveling with her husband. Privately she told us:
Next time I’m leaving him home. There’s no adventure in him.
Or the retired woman from Manchester who sold everything to live on the road for a year, or longer.
Years ago I learned about Joseph Campbell,
the American mythologist.
His first book is still a classic,
and has inspired many, George Lucas included, who credits Campbell for planting the Star Wars’ seed.
On life, Campbell wrote:
You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.
So Marco, the young man we met in Nepal, gave up a successful job in Germany to trek the Himalayas.
He’s staying on for a while to work with and learn from an indigenous community near Bandipur.
Luisa quit a good job as well. She’s not certain, but after Nepal she’s considering a move to Bulgaria to practice Naturopathy.
There’s Raghav, who took the risk to pursue his dream at Green Chwadi rather than practice law or work safely with the government or an NGO.
Or Lama Sir, who works for nothing so the students at Trevini School can pursue their own dreams.
And Sugat, Deepak and Ujjwal, each with families, each following their own path rather than society’s.
Campbell taught that there are 8 stages in the Hero’s Journey.
Each has its challenges.
For example, there’s the 40 year-old from Chicago we met in Pokhara. He’s turned his back on his father’s lucrative business without knowing what lies ahead.
But whatever it is, it will be mine,
he told us.
And the 20 year old from Atlanta who dropped out of a pre-med program to learn sustainable farming in the foothills of the Annapurna. He’s chosen to not follow in his physician father’s footsteps.
We spoke recently with a young woman from Croatia who had never left her hometown until a few years ago. She had the opportunity to study in China, but the prospect seemed daunting. It wasn’t until she posed the question:
If not now, then when?
that she was able to cross the threshold.
Yesterday before leaving Fish Hostel, we sat with a young man from Taichung who’s been staying in Yingge for two months.
“I’m trying to redefine myself,” he told us.
I asked what that meant.
“I love my parents. They’ve given me much. But I don’t want to be a teacher like my father. When I tell him what I think I want he seems to listen, but then he says it’s our duty in life to be responsible.”
He went on to talk about the pressure of not letting his father down, even if that means not living his own life.
“It’s so difficult,” he said. “But I want a life too.”
Just before leaving, I shared with the young man the lyrics to Cat Stevens’ Father and Son:
(Father)
It's not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy
You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to know
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy
I was once like you are now, and I know it's not easy,
To be calm when you've found something going on
But take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything you've got
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.
(Son)
How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again
It's always been the same, same old story
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away
I know I have to go
All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,
It's hard, but it's harder to ignore it
If they were right, I'd agree, but it's them they know not me
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away
I know I have to go.
As Pa and I road the commuter to Taipei, we thought of the young man at Fish Hostel, hopeful that he’ll heed the call.
Addendum
We have not even to risk the adventure alone
for the heroes of all time have gone before us.
The labyrinth is thoroughly known ...
we have only to follow the thread of the hero path.
And where we had thought to find an abomination
we shall find a God.
And where we had thought to slay another
we shall slay ourselves.
Where we had thought to travel outwards
we shall come to the center of our own existence.
And where we had thought to be alone
we shall be with all the world.
Jospeh Campbell
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