When I was a kid I wanted to be a Samurai. I wanted to be Batman in Samurai form. I wanted to have a code and a purpose and to rail against the wrongs of the world from behind the shield of a code that protected my sanity and elevated me to the level of romantic hero. This is the street equivilant of little girls dressing up as princesses and hoping for prince charming. I wanted a black motercycle, suit of armor, and a tech suite that would make the bat cry out with jealous rage. In my soul I would be Bushido.
Cheryl Matrasko writes that the core of the Bushido way is “To seek honor by first looking inside the soul and confront the intimate fears that we hide from ourselves, and that plague our psyche in everyday life. This is the purification of one’s soul.”
Over the next few months I want to explore that history and that idea of Bushido and connect it to today’s heroes, to myself, and the still nascent idea of who I want to be. It ought to be fun and maybe even a touch enlightening.
Some Thoughts:
1. A friend of mine suggested I have a paint party. I offer beer and wine to some friends who come over and help me paint my house. Brilliant. This is the essence of community support. Now all I need to do is come up with a painting schema for the house. I’m interested in doing something dramatic with the foyer and with the front and backyards. There should be some sort of connective tissue there, however I do not know what that will look like.