Don’t look around. Look inside.

The Flight of The Condor: The Sunday Strips, week 74

Hey,

If this week’s strip had a name, it would probably be The Old Caped Crusader and the Sea.

You see, there are many classic stories in which the hero finds himself alone in the middle of some kind of desert, and finds his purpose there. It’s like an old piece of advice literature gives you: if you’re lost, don’t look at the landscape, because the landscape looks the same in all directions.

If you’re lost, look inside yourself.

I don’t want to get too philosophical here, but I do think it’s true that when you’re lost, all directions are the same, all possible choices feel the same.

They say the hero is defined by his villain, and that may be true. But I also think that if you want to tell the reader who your hero is, you can leave him alone, trapped in an infinite desert, and see what he does.

What I mean is: what does Captain Ahab say about Moby Dick? And what does the sea say about Moby Dick?

I’m not saying I have the right answer, but I do think the great whale would still be the great whale if you replaced the one-legged madman with Jack Sparrow. However, take Moby Dick out of the uniform immensity of the sea and put him, say, in the National Aquarium, and goodbye character.

So.

The desert.

It’s not a bad idea to go for a walk in the desert every now and then. It doesn’t matter if it’s made of water, as long as it’s a desert.

Our hero’s lonely walk, for example, started here.

Enjoy.