I recently just got back from a very amazing trip to Seoul and while I recover I watched a fairly cheesy hero story. This hero story employed a typical beginning to the plot that seems fairly common in many hero stories, or adventure esque stories. Generally the beginning of the story is when fate taps someone on the shoulder. For the most part the people who are tapped in these stories either have a bland or desperate existence or lead a content life that gets radically altered by some external sources. In the former instance, there are many examples in current popular hero stories such as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars (leads a dreary life on Tatooine and longs for something more) or Harry Potter (leads a sad life that is changed when he is told he is something much more). An example of the later would be Frodo from Lord of the Rings (leads a happy life until fate in the form of Gandalf motivates him). I’m chiefly curious about why in hero stories that we cherish so much frequently involve individuals who are just stuck in their life until fate comes rapping.
As far as I can tell except in extraordinary circumstances I don’t believe fate comes knocking at your door very often. Why is it that stories where fate comes knocking are so well loved. Is it the individuals who are desperate for something to come about and change their life, that feel a sense of identity with such stories hoping that fate would knock on their door? If so why would someone feeling desperate for change not just change their life? If they do not have the strength for that I highly doubt that they could have the strength to answer fate giving them a heroes calling. Generally our heroes overcome odds that were thought to be insurmountable, but if someone could not even overcome their own desperate existence how would they ever expect to overcome a heroes challenge. Then there are the people who are not waiting for fate to knock and are content with their lives. Why these people enjoy the stories is probably very varied and beyond me at the moment to systematically analyze. I suspect they just are found of a good heroes journey and never expecting their life to ever reach a climactic journey as such.
Here is where it comes down to a personal philosophy of mine, that life should not just be lived but should be a momentous adventure (this can even be seen by the name of my blog). I don’t know if I have a rationalization for my thoughts at the moment but I feel that there is something inherently wrong almost verging on the point of being immoral for someone not to pursue greatness in their life. I will have to consider this a little deeper but as it stands now this is just a subjective opinion. So for now here is closing thought using a quote that a friend of mine seems to be fond of by Henry David Thoreau from his book Walden that seems to sum up those who wait for fate to tap…
Darling, I don’t know if you remember but you used to be one of those people… we used to have conversations over and over again, about how you felt like you were stuck and didn’t know how to change it. You talked about that when you were in Santa Cruz. When you moved back home. And it wasn’t until you decided to go to Korea did it seem to change… So in a way, you are kind of like those heroes- stuck in a boring existence when Korea came knocking on your door and you answered it. Now you’re off on your own adventure-esque/hero story… I don’t know… That’s just what I thought of when I read this… Sa lang hae mahal ko.
Nicely put, something I had never thought about, but I agree wholeheartedly.