Morgan Creekmore - Journey Symbol Reflection

I had actually been reading about heroes and journeys as represented in literature the day before we were given the Journey Symbol article in class. This was also the night when my umbrella broke and the sky fell out with torrential rain. As I headed back to JR from the library I couldn't help feeling as though I was a hero on a journey. I was faced with obstacles: rain, wind, ditches, deep puddles, a broken umbrella, and a leaking rain boot. As I stepped in my room, puddles in my left boot, I couldn't help but feel accomplished. Journeys can be big or small, spiritual or epic, and can occur in many contexts of life. My trek didn't last very long, bit it had the same concepts that constitute any other journey: a calling to get back safe (and hopefully partially dry), people like the Einstein's employee who aided my journey with hot coffee, and obstacles along the way such as broken equipment and geographical obstacles. In our article, it says that a journey can be as simple as ascending a ladder or as epic as climbing a mountain. What connects them all as journeys are the shared themes present in all, similar to the themes presented in my example. As we embrace any type of journey, we cannot help but relate ourselves to the heroes in literature, be it a knight or a hiker. Just as we do this, we as people relate our experiences to place, creating "storied place". Stories make pilgrimages into journeys, because we relate ourselves to our favorite characters and we become a part of the stories that represent place.