2004-12-13 - 11:16 p.m.
epic heroes
i've been thinking about epic myths. in religion, in literature, in movies.
epics require certain traits and among them, an epic hero,
epic heroes require certain charactoristics; the ones i can think of off the top of my head: born of a special birth, confusion of upbringing, representative of the common man, striving for something that is less than what is achieved, and a sort of moral dillema.
as my english teacher states, "(epics) are about real life. they are not just about fantasy, deus ex machina, or anything at all far from mankind. they are about you and me. they are about how we live our lives and interact with those around us."
but rereading through my list of epic requirements, striving for something that is less than what is achieved?
i don't see that too often. i very rarely find someone striving for anything at all.
i see greed and lasciviousness, hate and destruction, suffering and the lack of sanctification. i see creons and meneleoses.
the strive for happiness even seems absent.
it seems like most people prefer to be miserable than try to be happy.
seriously, what makes us so outstandishly apathetic and lazy?too so to even strive for happiness?
it is not much of a burden to try to change anything at all.
as a friend has written,
"It is better to die fighting for what you believe in, an end to war, to famine,to third world debt, to racism, to illness, anything, the small things that mean something, that need changing, that need support, than to live with yourself knowing you did nothing at all.
That you did nothing to stand up for what good in the world you felt strongly about.
Begin something.
End something.
Forget nothing but, please,
Change something."
so why don't we?
compliments of littlesprite