The Longest Journey

Can I just take a moment to appreciate Odysseus? Can we all?

Odysseus has been away from home for 20 years. 20 years after fighting one of the most gruesome wars in history. This man is a real trooper. He just keeps on going and trying to get home. There is nothing else that drives him. That right there is a good man. Its actually quite ridiculous how much he has to go through. After fighting the Trojan war he is essentially cursed by the gods to wander forever, even though there isn't really a good reason for them to hate him (except maybe Poseidon, but that comes later). He is just forced to wander the sea fighting off monsters and sexy witches. Quite the life isn't it? 

It's no wonder why Odysseus is regarded as a hero and his story told for millennia. His is really an inspiring story and he is quite the inspiring character. I'm pretty sure everyone wishes that they were as badass as Odysseus. I've noticed some people commenting that the help Odysseus receives from the gods diminishes his heroism, but I think that the help is actually a large factor in what makes him such a hero. Especially for the time, being in favor with the gods was the biggest honor, and even a peasant could be invited to a king's banquet if he had the mark of a god on him. Plus some of the tasks that Odysseus has to undertake would be impossible without a god's help. If not for the gods, Calypso would have of been able to keep Odysseus on her island. Nor would he have been able to survive Poseidon's wrath. 

It's hard not to admire Odysseus/

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I am become student, learner of things. 

This blog is for my Hero's Journey English class. The hero's journey is a generic path that heroes generally travel on when becoming a hero. I'm not totally sure what it entails, but there is a lot of change involved I'm pretty sure. There can be both mental and physical change. I think the more important is mental. You can have all the strength in the world, but if you don't have the right mentality or know-how to use it, you are just stuck with a really heavy albeit muscular body. Its the mental aspects that truly make someone a hero. The courage to overcome a fear. The perseverance to keep going at something even when all seems hopeless. The ability to take that one in a million chance and run with it, making the odds greater and greater as you go. It takes balls to be a hero. Balls or total lunacy - I'm sure both work. 

Generally we think of heroes as being big and strong and attractive and impossible. These are the types of heroes we find in media. Books, movies, commercials... These are the heroes that appeal to us. We cherish the idea of a superhero, I think, because we like the idea of potentially being that hero ourselves. And if we are that hero, that strong, attractive, and powerful hero, than it is not hard to see ourselves as better than everyone else. That right there is what we really want. Humans are selfish beings, becoming better than everyone else is one of the main unconscious goals of almost everyone. This has been true for millennia. In the dark ages, people sought individual glory through battle. The person who killed the most or defeated the strongest enemy became a hero. In modern times the media gives superhero status to the fictional characters who are given incredible abilities and powers that no one else has. But that's what really makes a hero, isn't it....