The Hero Myth & Our Triumphant Suffering

How noble is the one who pushes through pain and overcomes great obstacles? in spite of  the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune?" Unyielding in the face of suffering, such a heroic figure seems to suggest that there is glory in not bending to the voices of suffering that echo inside of us. These figures are upheld throughout the ages as exemplars of human nobility---of the greatest that we are each capable of, of what we all should aspire to. 

And yet, it appears that there is more to the story.

I cannot help but wonder what kind of world we create when suffering's voice is merely a sound that we feel compelled to overcome all the time. I wonder what kind of a society we encourage when suffering is seen as merely a personal struggle that each and everyone of us should find the steely resolve to be triumphant over. Do we unwittingly create a society that is hardened to care and compassion in relation to suffering and its many shades and timbres? Do we create a culture where suffering has no value except as a weight that the force of our personal will is supposed to uphold day after day? Do we maybe create---subtly, over time--a world indifferent to the various calls and claims that suffering makes upon us , if for no other reason than because our preferred mythology has been that suffering is what heroes and heroines overcome, and that is all suffering is good for---another mountain to climb and conquer?

When suffering is merely that which is to be conquered by our will, by our technology, by our spirituality and metaphysics what do we miss in viewing suffering so narrowly? And what do we create, inevitably, as a result of so narrow a view of suffering's continued presence in our many realms and worlds?

Excuse Me Dating.... But Has Anyone Told You Lately How Bad You Suck?!?

Sometimes I feel like that little boy who wants to play baseball with his friends so bad, and yet he sucks so much at the game that he ends up always storming off in protest, stomping his feet and yelling as he leaves, "I hate baseball anyways! Baseball is a stupid game and it sucks!"

That's exactly how I feel about "dating." 25 years as an eligible "dater" will do that to you. Maybe even 5 years as an eligible dater will do that to some of us. I bet even the Dalai Lama has no compassion for dating. Dating really does suck!

For the most part, though, people don't. People are cool. Except when they are not. I generally love the process of getting to know someone. It is forever interesting discovering someone else's story and journey in life (provided that that "someone" is not spending the first hour going on and on about themselves.... that's usually me, though, so I am safe in that regard).

Perhaps it is this whole charade that starts out when we become interested in the process of "natural selection" courtesy of our biology. Stuff starts happening to us and we find ourselves oddly obsessed with activities that a year or two earlier never crossed our mind. I didn't feel like this when I was 12. It is all so new and fresh, and, as such, it tends to capture our fancy. Oh, the possibilities that exist.

When we don't have it, oh how we want it. When we have it, oh how we can't be rid of it fast enough! Be wary of growing up too soon kiddos!  :-)

Fast-forward 20 or 25 years and the best some of us can muster is a roll of the eyes at the prospect of "dating." The sentence "You want to go steady," just doesn't have the same ring to it that it did in the 70's and 80's while we grew up watching Brady Bunch re-runs, does it? The allure has vanished in the Bermuda Triangle of human psychology. That and one too many romantic hangovers. Could of been the Jagermeister, too. Just a little.

At best, later in life, dating becomes full of irony. Little wonder that so-called "romantic comedies" are some of the most appealing and popular fare that Hollywood offers up on a monthly basis. Romance/dating is comedic, satirical. It may even be a farce! Tragically, with we ourselves being the cruel butt of the jokes. Hello, my name is Owen Wilson.

No one is going to cry for us, though, are they? We know that deep down inside so we get tough and act like we don't care. Just like Timmy who takes his baseball bat and glove home, kicking stones down the street as he walks, muttering to himself, "I don't care. Who likes baseball anyways. It is such a stupid game. Only dumb people play baseball."

Yup, Timmy. It is. It is the dumbest game around fit for only dumb people. A game where even the worst player cannot help but dream of someday hitting a walk-off homerun.

Stupid game anyways!