Monday, October 23, 2006

A New Era Begins

The blog is more yours now because your fellow students are creating the posts. You will still be responsible to comment. I am especially looking for intelligent comments that address the post. Keep in mind that you may not always like or agree with what the post says, but it is your responsibility to comment in a mature manner that addresses the issue not the writer. Here goes...


Such things our parents do remember, but of such things we never ask. Through growth and time, our most prominent, yet neglected heroes have been the guardians of our lives.

If you were to ask what you can give back to your elders, most people would simply tell you to lend them an ear. Surely, you must think, this can be easy and smoothly followed through. On the contrary, easy does not define their lives as difficulty does embody it. Generation upon generation and still we’ve nothing to inquire of upon our preceding bloodlines. The genetics of our nature and the family with whom we have grown are falling leaves from the tree of which we blossomed.

Who is to decide which stories and traditions carry forth or die as promptly as they were made? For whom shall we reiterate such history and impress upon the significance of our pasts?

Remember, so as not to forget, not only for ones self but for the sake of those to come.

Epic journeys are not solely found in books or movies. Somewhere, someone had to live those stories in one form or another. Perhaps, they may not have slain a dragon or tamed a wild, snarling beast in real life, but inside themselves they did just that. Accordingly, someone on the outskirts of this journey observed and absorbed the notorious event. Hence, from then on the story was written and rewritten, until finally the story was no more the story it was to begin with.

Most of you probably know a story or two about an elder in your family. Maybe your grandfather served in the military or your grandmother was a famous designer. Whatever story that may be, interview him/her and summarize in your own words, with the exception of direct quotes, what that story was. Briefly explain which parts you think might fit into the different phases of a hero’s journey. You might possibly find out some things you didn’t know…

On the off chance that you do not have an older family member with such exciting tales, or if you just don’t want to do that, here is another option. As I mentioned above, each epic tale had to come from somewhere. Pick a well known story or fairytale and read it a few times. After that, put it into a different perspective. Knowing that most of what is written is not realistic, compare the fiction to the fact. What story might have prompted this tale? What might have really happened that was embellished so and turned into such a far fetched idea? In other words, just how big was the big fish and just how small was Thumbelina?

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