Partaking in life's journey is something all humanity stages a role in. Forging our own identity is achieved through endless trials and tribulations. Many of us are in constant battle derived from our inner war of good and evil. The path is never easy and the knowledge obtained from choosing either side can be very rewarding, depending on the individual and their circumstances. The journey of my father contains many obstacles that he had to conquer; defying temptations detrimental to his journey, transforming mistakes into experience, and mastering both the good and bad which define his identity.
The Hero's Journey was a concept discovered by Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist and writer. He pointed out that stories across all countries and regions have a similar outline that he called the Hero's Journey. His concept of the "Hero" was that the hero must leave behind what is familiar to him and go off into a "Special World" where new challenges and situations are faced. The hero must overcome these challenges and then return home with a reward that he can share with others, whether it be an actual physical reward or a lesson that has been learned.
My father, David Felix DeLaO, began his journey in Brownfield, Texas. A small farming community with a name that could be taken literally. You can see nothing but brown earth as far as the eye can see, unless the cotton is in season. Dad was born into a typically large Latino family and shared my grandparent's attention with eight other siblings. Nevertheless, it was a happy home. The red brick home contained a modest three bedrooms but, as suspected, wasn't made to house a family of eleven. My Grandfather worked endlessly at a local mechanic shop which obtained most of its business from the surrounding farmers who would bring in their equipment for repair. Grandma, "The Ringmaster", as my dad describes, stayed at home and ran the "DeLaO Circus.