On Fables and Myths

I've always admired my father. There have definitely been points in my life when I have hated him, every child goes through this. You feel your parents have wronged you for various reasons... but my father has this one quality which I have never been able to de-fable. He's fearless. He's truly fearless. He's conquered the most ridiculous odds purely on his ability to face anything that has come up against him, and not backdown. 

Growing up I never looked up to superheroes, because my father was one in my eyes.  When I was 10 I went for a walk with my father. This was 1987 and California didn't have any rules against walking your dog without a leash. As we passed by this house three or four dogs came charging at us. I was terrified of dogs, especially the ones that bark and charge at you. I was frozen in fear, I could not move. I was watching those dogs, baring their teeth, come closer and closer. From the corner of my eye, I noticed my father running towards the dogs. Between us and the dogs there was a stick lying on the ground... he was amazingly running towards the stick. He picked it up and started warding the dogs away from us. At one point there were 4 dogs jumping all over him.  I will never forget his face, he wasn't scared. Superheroes were nothing compared to him.

I think about that moment from time to time. The fact that he saw the stick in this situation is what puzzled me the most, but there were other factors that I think about. See the odds that he would get to the stick before the dogs was slim... too slim. Even if he got the stick, did he really think he could fight off four huge dogs with one stick? There is a "fight or flight" mechanism built into each of us. In that situation I know for me it was flight... no question. For my father it was fight. It is always fight with him. He has never once backed down from a challenge. I notice it even today in his Alzheimers. I go for a walk with my father once a week. I try to jog his memory and make him laugh as much as I can. I will always try to get him to sing his favorite Dev Anand songs. Today I challenged him with "I bet I know more songs than you do." He took on the challenge. He doesn't remember any of the songs from the movies, so he made up songs. He made up a new song for every film song I sang. At the end I had to let him win, because I just memorized some songs, he made up about 20 songs in 30 minutes. It was brilliant.

I'm not sure if my future children will ever know my father, but they will definitely know the fables and myths that surround his existence.