This time of year is more than budding flowers and nesting
birds. It’s promotion time for scores of young across the country. Friends have
posted photos of precious preschoolers wearing mortarboards to receive tiny
diplomas. Others celebrate their own or their loved one’s high school and
college graduations. Seeing these pictures on Facebook as families rejoice over
this life event reminds me that all of us are on a journey, hopefully a hero’s
journey to live a worthy life.
In literature, students read about heroes such as Odysseus,
Beowulf, and Atticus Finch. They analyze the differences and similarities in
those adventurous lives. Some classes examine scholar Joseph Campbell’s version
of the hero’s journey and learn to recognize archetypal calls to adventure;
thresholds to cross; tests, mentors,
helpers, and hinderers; ordeals; seizing rewards; traveling the road back; and discovering
freedom to live. Anyone interested enough to know more can find models of this
ancient pattern if they wish to look it up.
It doesn’t take long before an attentive reader realizes
this prototype is also the story of each of our lives. Adventure in some form
or another calls every one of us multiple times throughout our existence. For some, it’s a siren call to foreign lands
as missionaries, travelers, employees, or soldiers. For others, it’s a summons
to marry and unite lives. This choice often results in children, an undertaking
which certainly requires mentors and helpers to overcome hinderers and
problems. To be alive means to join this hero’s journey. To recognize the steps
along the way makes it more fulfilling.
It’s obvious new graduates stand at a threshold. Everything
that’s been predictable is about to change. In short time, these people on the
cusp of a new existence go from parents’ support and home to their own households
and jobs where they are responsible to maintain employment, pay bills, and
handle challenges. They realize they make their own decisions and no longer
depend on someone else to tell them what to do.
Suddenly, it’s clear the guidance they received from loved
ones helped prepare them for this day. I recall those early months on my own
when I dug deep to remember what loving adults had taught me about budgeting
and making do. Fortunately, I came from a resourceful bunch who taught flexible
problem solving so handling difficulties might have caused stress, but it
didn’t throw me off my intended path.
That’s the value, I think, in knowing the predictability of
the hero’s journey. You know you’ll face tests. You know you need to find and
recognize your helpers as well as your hinderers, and sometimes the difficulty
is differentiating between the two. You know there will be rewards. Once again,
it’s important to look for them. Sometimes they’re small and easy to miss. However,
those who seek will find those treasures and can offer gratitude for large and
small boons in life.
I’ve decided recognition is the operative word. We must
learn to see and value individuals and moments, which adds richness to life
that some never enjoy. For me, that adds up to that final part of this
journey-- freedom to live. Truly being alive means savoring an awareness of
those who enrich our lives and those instances where we experience life in that
instant; whether it be catching a big fish, reveling in a splendid sunset, snuggling a baby close in
the middle of the night, or comforting an elder passing on.
This time of year and its graduates remind us that we, too,
are on a journey. We might travel a different path than they, but we also share
helpers, hinderers, and rewards. Acknowledging these along our way improves the
quality of our own lives. Happy trails.
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