Accepting the Fire

The faithful who have gathered in Denver Colorado awaits signs and portents at Invesco. The crowds are restive in the amphitheatre as the the Grecian style altar stands naked, they are awaiting the entrance of their nominee. When will the chorus enter, declaiming what the narrative of this event is; that is what some wonder. Dressed in flowing white robes, where is the chorus that will announce the candidate?

In a break from the classic, there is no chorus. Instead the nominee will perform all the parts. He will carry the staggering burden upon his narrow youthful shoulders. The crowds will hold their breath as the lights will follow him up the gleaming white steps until he does reach the top. It is upon that summit he will accept, from the Pythian surrogate of the local vox poli, the entwined laurels he has sought for so long. Hidden behind the triumphant smile, is a path littered with the bodies of companions like his grandmother and pastor, victims surrendered to various traps to allow him to break free. The ascent was hard and cruel for this callow youth, but no quest is easy and hero quests are the hardest of all.

He will then turn to face all who are gathered, many of them are allies of the moment like the Ache ans upon the shores of Troy, over twenty years they grew to fight over baubles and looted chattel. Seeking higher status in small skirmishes. The self anointed can only hope to be ably assisted by a keen-witted Odysseus's during these trials to wrestle the true mantle of leadership away from other suitors. Least this latest wielder of the Democratic flame finds himself chained to rocks and his liver feasted upon by birds. All the while those laurels will slip off his brow and be washed away as he becomes a footnote in a Muse's book of history.

The hero's journey is not finished when he reaches the apex of that altar. In fact, the final ascent will have started only when he descends those steps as nominee. All else is illusion and he should gird himself from being lead astray by those who now cluster about him seeming to want to help him in his hero quest.