Odysseus Journey In Homer's The Odyssey

“Our life’s journey of self-discovery is not a straight-line rise from one level of consciousness to another. Instead, it is a series of steep climbs, and flat plateaus, then further climbs. Even though we all approach the journey from different directions, certain of the journey’s characteristics are common for all of us.” Author Stuart Wilde’s impression of journeys and their shared commonalities supports the claim that all journeys have a motive and an outcome. In the epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus sets off to defeat Troy, leaving his wife and child behind. After accomplishing his goal, Odysseus faces many problems while trying to return him and his crew back home to Ithaca. Similar to Odysseus’s physical journey, the goal in

The powerful wind swaying the boat. Rocks and waves coming full speed ahead. All of the dark and lonely weeks sure to make someone feel empty. Who could ever complete a journey like this? In, The Cruelest Journey, adventurer Kira Salak accomplishes this journey and more. Kira was willing to face the same fate as the great explorer Mungo Park who died trying to complete this same journey. She endures obstacles of her own such as tropical storms, hippos, the heat of the Sahara, and the undetermined moods of the river. Her motivation to getting to Timbuktu was to challenge and learn more about her inner self. It was also important for Salak to take on this journey in order to prove to herself and all those who doubted her that she was capable of doing anything (Salak 26-30). Among the many obstacles Salak faced, she was able to overcome them with motivation. The aspects of spiritual motivation benefied Kira for the better of herself and the completion of her journey. As seen in, The Odyssey, every journey has a motivation and a lesson. As a result, the lessons learned in Kira's journey are all the attributes she learned about herself. Salak talks about the hardship, humility, and gratitude that these spiritual adventures bring (Salak 120). Kirak proposes the idea that she could not have learned more about herself unless she tested her limits. Therefor, her story inspires many to be as motivated to start a journey and hopeful

The two previous pieces render that motivation is used to benefit oneself, such as to return back home to family or to become more enlightened. However, The Good Soldier by Michael Griffin, proves that not all people are motivated to help themselves. Kauzlarich Cummings’ motivation to help Izzy’s daughter was not recognition or compensation, but righteousness. The idea of human decency is about being understanding of others situations, and helpful and compassionate to them in times of conflict, and Cummings did just that. Morals and instinct took over after he was presented with the situation of finding immediate medical care for a 16 year old girl who was injured by a bomb. After a number of pointless phone calls, Cummings did what he knew was right. Although Kauzlarich didn’t know if the girl was a citizen or if she was allowed to receive help on an American military medical facility, he helped Izzy’s daughter regardless (Finkel 45-65). Cummings’ motivation shows that in order to overcome mental obstacles people need to be dauntless and comprehensive. Overall this piece shows that, unlike the Odyssey, motivation can be based off of selflessness and compassion. The lesson learned from this selection is simple. Helping others is the right thing to do and it can make people feel better about themselves. Cummings makes a statement at the end of the story that he had never felt so content