My Monster

What or who is my Grendel? What monster, slayer of men, destroyer of civilization, is it my job to kill? I must have some reason to read and reread Beowulf; it’s as if it is a calling. Or perhaps the universe is telling me something…if I could believe such rubbish. But I do have a monster to slay: all heroes do. If I am to be the hero of my own epic life, I know my next step. Find my monster. The usual candidates: a social cause, a personal obstacle, someone to rescue don’t feel like manifestations of my monster.

How does one find a monster in his life or the life of the world around him?  Watch the news?  Talk to family and friends?  Increase his attention level?  I don’t have a clue how to do this.  My normal reaction would be to let the idea drift until I forgot it or just moved on to another quest.  Part of a quest…yes…part of my quest to write something worth writing.  There might be something in this.  Hell, I don’t have much else to write about yet.  Why not vanquish the demon, yet unknown, by writing it to death.