"Recovering The Satellites"

I've been thinking alot about Hero Journeys lately. Well, I say "lately," but what I really mean is "ever since I started discussing Return of the King with Everett this afternoon" (yesterday afternoon, I guess it is now...cursed early a.m. hours).

As I said earlier, I really think Sam is the hero of Lord of the Rings. He's not the only hero, of course--you can't swing a dead orc without hitting a hero in Lord of the Rings--but he's the one that I indentify with most, I guess. So many of the characters take a hero journey, something I have not the proper vocabulary to describe (though I've read some Joseph Campbell, so I'm familiar with the idea). Many hero journeys start with a mentor or father figure or guide pointing the way for the hero, and then a parting of ways. The hero must strike out on his or her own in hopes of growing and becoming a man/woman/fill-in-the-blank-alien-gender. Then the hero returns to his home carrying the knowledge and wisdom he has gained on his journey. It's one of those nice archetypal cycles that Campbell always drooled over. That Ev drools over. That Tolkein loaded his books with.

And all this has got me wondering--am I on my own journey? Have I set other people on theirs? I know Ev was talking about rediscovering a part of himself in recent weeks, and I've discussed it with him at length. A rather conceited part of me likes to think that I'm somehow parly responsible for this. I'm probably not, though. I also like to think I've been a mentor to a few of my friends, who probably thought I've just been overbearing and overprotective.

Mostly, the hero journey idea has got me thinking about partings. I hate saying goodbye, I always have. I don't like lettig go. I bawled the day I left Ozarks. I don't even want to think about what this coming May will be like. I haven't been here long, and I only know a few people, but I think I've gotten rather close to those few in that short time, and they're an important part of my life now. Hell, it was tough enough saying goodbye to Beth at the airport this afternoon, and that's only for a few weeks.

What happens when or if I have to say goodbye for good? I hate that idea.

One of the more touching scenes in the early Terry Pratchett Discworld books comes at the end of Mort. In context, it doesn't seem very touching; it's a conversation between Death and his former apprentice, Mort, over deviled eggs at a wedding reception. But taken by itself:

"Goodbye," Mort said, and was surprised to find a lump in his throat. "It's such an unpleasant word, isn't it?"
QUITE SO. Death grinned because, as has so often been remarked, he didn't have much option. But possibly he meant it, this time.
I PREFER AU REVOIR, MYSELF, he said.

~chaos cricket

Song of the Moment: Yoko Kanno & the Seatbelts, "Tank!"