Wonderings on Wednesday with a Website thrown in

In less than a week, Barack Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States. He is a very popular figure, at present. More popular in the rest of the world which can’t believe the margin of victory was only 6%. But that’s food for another blog.

I’m thinking about him today in relation to the concept of hero because to many people that’s the role they see for him. After eight years of chaos in this country which was greeted with unconcern by so many as their profits rolled in, angst-filled hand wringing by some who were appalled by the state of the country but impotent to find a solution, and also brave condemnation by a few prominent personalities who live their lives in an heroic mode; the country is ready for its hero.

There is always room for the great man concept in regard to history. And, by great man, I mean both the good and the ugly; greatness refers to size and scope; not goodness.

Heroes, however, should be different. For me, the hero has the goal and the quest. It’s his development as he makes this quest which makes for epics.

Taking a simple example: the movie version of The Lord of the Rings. (Not the book version because Tolkien approached his heroes more as the author of The Song of Roland - oh, what a pompous ass that guy was.)

We have both Frodo and Aragon making the quest to achieve the goals: destruction of the ring and achievement of the crown.

There were a lot of complaints that Jackson changed the nature of Tolkien’s characters, but he was true to the epic hero’s journey. Both Frodo and Aragon undertake their missions, are changed in the journey, and only achieve their goal after personal and psychic damage. In the end, Frodo must take another journey to be healed and that long sigh from Aragon before he first turns to greet him people as king tells us his concerns about his road ahead.

And so with Barack Obama. He ran a masterful campaign against two of the most incompetent campaigners who lost the media and thus sealed their fate.

He will be the President and so many people see this as the end to: government spying, state-approved torture, curtailment of women’s reproductive rights, a physician/pharmaceutical enriching health care system; tax breaks for the rich - the list is long.

So much hope is stored in the hero. The populace placing their dreams within him/her. Heroes don’t exist for themselves; they exist for us. Perhaps this is why, like God, we forgive them much since we don’t wish to see the mote in our own eye.

With Obama, the hero mantle is so much more difficult since he is a politician. His first failing may come very soon; especially concerning worldwide admiration.

The quagmire of the Middle East has never been looked at in terms of “this must end” in the eyes of the United States. Today, as the world protests the genocide of the Palestinians, we parse everything: Oh, isn’t the killing terrible that Israel is forced to do seems to be the strongest we can come to as a hand slap to the Israeli Goliath.

Unless Obama can forge a new Middle East path which embraces the rights of the Palestinians and their 1948 UN mandated separate state, the world will very soon be shaking its head and muttering: Same old. Same old.

I do feel slightly sorry for Obama; our insanely expensive political campaigns gives corrupting influence to the deepest pockets. It is hard to break out of those shackles. Perhaps, he can add campaign finance reform to his agenda.

And so, we wait and see. I think the ship of state will move slightly but the ocean is filled with icebergs and we’re heading right towards them. Like Rita Hayworth lamenting her ill luck with men: They go to bed with Gilda (her sexiest role) and wake up with Rita. Disappointments are ahead for all.

The hero can be a life-affirming myth. God is a powerful myth. Unfortunately, it’s the metaphor behind the myth that’s tough to wrap your mind around.

And now, the website:

This is probably a time-sensitive site and may not be up forever:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/22/50-things-we-know-now-we-didnt-know-time-last-year/life/

As the url says, you get 50 things you didn't know before 2008.

Each item has a hyperlink to a secondary source (USA Today; Science Now, etc.) about the finding. Enjoy.