final paper

Final Paper: Callings to the Past
Here is this Indian reporter in “The Toughest Indian in the World” that’s found a job separate from his homeland and native lifestyle; he’s drifted away from his roots and his heritage. Given his mindset and love for the past, this reporter idolizes and admires the warrior, in all senses. Now given the time to dwell on this past and the way his father behaved around hitchhikers he feels a longing, a calling, back to his homeland and the way he was raised. Driving down the road he finds this Indian hitchhiker that coincidentally is also a fighter. Instantly the reporter falls in love with the fighter, mostly because he’s Indian, and because he’s a fighter. After being around the fighter he feels a closeness to his heritage and up-bringing. Since the reporter has been around the warrior, he’s become concerned for him, since he’s the one that’s rekindled his love and passion for his homeland. Because of this concern he offers the fighter to stay with him for the night, and during the night there’s a series of events which changes the reporter.
He felt a closeness to his kin and heritage that wasn’t there before, he felt a love and a passion for his homeland that caused him to change his way of thinking and priorities in life. After the fighter left, he woke up the next morning a changed person, because of the closeness he felt to his roots through the fighter. This closeness to his roots is what truly caused the reporter to change his course and head for home, rather than back to the newspaper.
The link through the fighter to the reporter’s heritage can be sparked in anyone, all people need is that closeness to someone, or something, that brings the individual back to their roots. Now that’s not saying that people need to have gay sex, or have sex at all, to be that thing that brings an individual back to their hometown, or native country, or childhood. For everyone it’s different, some person may simply take the smell of rain, or the sight of the desert to bring them back to their roots, and spark a fire to revisit their childhood, or homeland. But since it takes something different for everyone, it’s hard to rekindle people’s passion for the past and the way things used to be, and this is a problem with modern society. This drifting from the past is causing problems in the business world such as premature growth and expansion resulting in a crash, and also in the home. This problem is primarily an issue in the US because many Americans feel they have no homeland, or no roots. Sure, most came from England, but in this day and age how many of us feel we belong to England, how many wish to go back? So since many Americans don’t feel this calling to the past, we’ve been able to look toward the future and push our economy. This lack of attachment to the past is a bad thing in some respects, such as the possibility of failure in the business world, and the issues in the home, but its also pushing the economy overall and causing major advancements in sciences and industry.
Overall though, things will leave people feeling a lack of calling to the past and their heritage which leaves a small void in people’s lives. Now, any void at all causes problems, and maybe at the moment it’s not a prevalent issue, but eventually it will be. Just like in the story, the reporter drifted away from his roots, but once he had that attachment and spark for the past he was able to put one foot in front of the other and head back home, and he could be a happier person for it. How would the US change if everyone had that void filled? How much better would American living be?
Everyone is going to drift away from their home and their upbringing, but not everyone will be able to find the path back, and it’s those that can find the path back that can fill that void in their lives and be better people for it. Like the reporter left without his shoes, people will be able to leave without their worries. People can live better stress-free and worry-free lives, but they’ll need that closeness to their roots reaffirmed and inspired by someone or something. With what the reporter was able to do just by having his connection to his roots rekindled, imagine what the American populace would be able to do and what it would be like if the majority of people were able to do this. Life would be much happier and stress-free than it is today. There wouldn’t be so many pressures on an individual for various reasons. And people could enjoy their companionship and families to a degree that isn’t being reached today.