Random Meeting

For some strange reason I felt like watching the sunrise this morning. I live in Hawaii, it's absolutely beautiful here, and I couldn't remember the last time I watched a sunrise. So last night I decided I would wake up early and head to the east side of the island. I thought it would be even cooler to watch the sunrise from the top of a mountain so the plan was to hike to the top of Koko Head before dawn.

The sun rose at 6:22am this morning. I figured if I got to Koko Head a little before 6 I'd have enough time to get to the top. I woke up at 5am, blinked, and it was suddenly 5:53am. Not used to waking up before dawn. Anyway, I crawled out of bed, splashed some water on my face, brushed my teeth, grabbed an apple and a water bottle, and headed out.

It was almost 6:20 went I neared Koko Head. The sky was lighting up by the rising sun. Koko Head loomed ahead, still darkened by the fleeting night but the sky behind it was a glowing orange. I should of stopped to take a picture of it, maybe next time. Anyhow, I knew there was no way I'd get to the top in 2 minutes so I figured I'd just keep driving and stop at a lookout point along the road.

Now, you may be wondering what the title of this blog has to do with what's written so far. Well, honestly, nothing. So let's tie it up. On Friday I was talking with a friend of mine about how long it's been since we've seen some of our other friends. Last year we used to hike regularly, have lots of barbeques, train for events together, and so on. But this year we haven't done so much of that.

Back to this morning, I'm at the Halona lookout point just before Makapu'u beach. The sun was halfway above the horizon and lighting up the sky. Several photographers had climbed down onto the rocks and a small beach area below the lookout. Most were photographing the sunrise, some were snapping away at the swirling waters, one guy was taking pictures of a woman sitting on the rocks.

Hawaiian Sunrise with a golden path to the stars

I was admiring the brilliant sunrise, noticing how its rays reflected off the ocean creating what looked like a golden pathway leading from the shore to the Sun. Then I hear, “Hey David!” I turned and saw my friend James, one of the guys we used to go hiking and have barbeques with. He's a photographer, does some really nice stuff (check out his website here: http://jameswramos.wix.com/jamesramos#!home/mainPage or see his Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/JamesRamosPhotography?ref=ts&fref=ts#!/JamesRamosPhotography). He was waiting for some people to show up for a photo shoot.

Title makes a little more sense now right?? Right.

It was nice running into James. He's a good guy and I admire how he pursues one of his passions in photography. It got me thinking about how many of us - or perhaps all of us - want to achieve something. Whether it's creating something, reaching a certain status, or getting to a certain place, there's something we want to do. But there's a difference in the people that want it, and those that try for it. James strikes me as a guy that's taking a shot and puts his talents to use.

To think, if I had actually woken up when I planned to and went to the top of Koko Head I wouldn't have run into James. I wouldn't have reflected on the difference of having an idea of what you want to become and actually going after what you want to become. What I want to become for that matter. Randomness works out from time to time. And with that in mind, I'm going to go work on my book.

Divine Mortality

I've been reading a book called The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. It's a great read if you're interested in mythology and learning how myth and folklore across cultures relate to one another. How hero journeys follow a universal format, journeys of the soul into the afterlife, and the death and rebirth cycle of all things. Today I read a portion that touched upon Norse mythology with Odin/Othin, Thor, Loki, and more (the mythological gods, not the characters from the comics) which sparked my curiosity. It talked about how the Nordic gods die.

I read somewhere else that Norse mythology is unique from all others in that their gods are mortal. They actually die. None of this death of body spiritual reincarnation stuff. They really can die. Thor and his brethren are not immortal. In The Hero With a Thousand Faces the Nordic gods are the only ones mentioned with this quality (if you can call it a “quality”). Every other myth the book mentions involves some kind of life, death, rebirth cycle. But not the Nordic, they break the cycle. They go away and stay gone...along with everything else.

It made me wonder. What does it do to a person or a culture when your god is capable of dying?

At first I thought it must make for a grim and bleak world. I mean, if your god(s) can die what hope do you have? Which I guess makes sense considering the Nordic people (like the Vikings) lived a pretty rough life. Famine, weather, war, winter, wolves, and countless other things can kill you at any given moment. Why shouldn't the gods share the same mortality?

Then I got to thinking about the concept of “shared mortality.” Maybe mortal gods is a way to reflect the reality of the culture. The Nordic people were certainly familiar with death. Maybe it even goes further and that shared mortality brings them closer to divinity. Perhaps the Nordic people could feel more spiritually at peace or more godly because they shared a common end with their gods.

I don't know, just thinking. If you have any thoughts, please share.

Another thing, the passage I read made me think of the scene from The Lord of the Rings when the ring was destroyed and Frodo and Sam were hanging out on a rock while Mount Doom was erupting around them. Frodo tells Sam “I'm glad you're here with me at the end of all things.” The end of all things. Such finality. Reading about Norse mythology reminded me of that scene because when Odin and all the other gods die, that's it.

Spoiled?

I forget how spoiled I am sometimes. The other day I was talking to a good friend of mine who lives in California. He's going through some tough times. The company he works for is going bankrupt, jobs are scarce, he's had to move several times in the past year, and the future is looking grim for the guy. But he's not a whiner, he's a worker. He's no stranger to strife or blisters and his work ethic has always pulled him through the rough patches of his life. As he told me about what's going on with him, not once did it sound like he was complaining. It was more like, “this is what I'm dealing with and yep, I'm dealing with it.”

Now I've had a stressful past month. Without getting into it, there's been a few disappointments here and there. When the conversation between my friend and I began I was ready to vent a few things out. When he asked how I've been, I told I've been stressed. Just a warm up into the vent session. When he asked what's been stressing me out, in that moment the severity of what I was about to say compared to what I just heard from him clicked. I had a reality check and instantly my attitude changed. All I could say was “Petty...very petty things.”

Here's a guy who's handling a legitimate rough patch and there I was about to gripe about how money was tight and I couldn't go buy a new pair of pants and other things like that. Oh woe is me...

Another thing, I've been planning a vacation for the past several months. I wanted to do a few things but circumstances have changed and I have to cut out a lot of what I was planning to do and I may even cut my vacation short. I was feeling disappointed that I would have to fly home earlier than planned and then what would I do? Yeah...because coming back to Hawaii is such a horrible thing...

I was talking with a different friend of mine about vacation plans and ideas. He was kind of bummed that he wouldn't be able to take a vacation to the mainland and instead he's going to Maui for a few hiking excursions. I told him, “Ya know that's not bad at all. To the rest of the world that's a dream come true.” My friend nodded, smiled, and said, “Yeah good point.”

Getting caught up in the tediousness of daily routines has a tendency to put blinders on my eyes. I forget sometimes that I live in Hawaii. A place that most of the world considers paradise. Sure, paychecks aren't as big as I'd like them to be, things happen and plans change, things fall short of expectations sometimes, but I get by okay. It's really not that bad. Some could say I'm spoiled, and yeah...they'd have a good point.