What It’s All For
The sprawling high-fantasy epic, The Lord Of The Rings, opens in the cozy — if not unremarkable — home of the Hobbits.
The final punctuation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Endgame, starts with Ironman doing nothing except be a dad.
Before the world is saved, good stories remind us why it’s worth saving.
When it’s time to leave home, our heroes pack what they can — for Frodo, a small elven bade, and for Ironman, a fuggin time machine — but what they can’t pack, they put in their hearts.
It’s perhaps too self-important¹ to compare ourselves to fictional heroes, but as I stare a hole into a Red-eye plane ticket, I find myself leaving my family with the battery, labeled purpose, fully recharged.
Nietzche’s least provocative quote is, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
And of course, we all contain multitudes. For life to be defined by a single why seems unrealistic at best and dangerous at worst. I’m happy, though, to revisit this understanding when I become a dad. I’d love nothing more than to be proven wrong.
But as a 25-year-old, who is perpetually knocked to the ground by greater and greater things, it’s the love from home that helps me face the next challenge on my feet.
Save the world. Beat Thanos. Restore the balance to the Force.
Sure.
But only because we have people at home counting on us.
Thanks for reading and please love yourself.
Footnotes:
- You know what’s also kinda self-important? Having a blog at all.
