Question

I was bored the other day and started thinking about my heroes. If I could spend fifteen minutes in their company who would I like to shake hands with?

My number one is Elvis Presley, not the man on the silver screen but the man behind it.

HG Wells. I would ask him to take me on the time machine. We would ride back in history and I would shake hands with Shakespeare, ask him to give me tips on writing. I would love to sit and have coffee with all the great poets, to hear their voices and feel their passion.

I have a list of heroes as long as my arm.

Sathya Sai Baba, so I can see for myself if he can do all the things I have read about him.

The Dalai Lama, so he can tell me if he really feels reincarnated from the last Dalai Lama. I might need more than fifteen minutes here.

Then there are all the fictional characters I love. I would like to spend time in the jungle with Tarzan, being wild and free. I would spend weeks in a cave with the wizard Merlin. Magic and legend, I cannot get enough of it. I would save time to sit with Pythagoras, Tolkien, Hans Christian Anderson, to name but a few. John Dunne has a way with words that stay long after I have read them.

If I must pick only one hero, it would be HG Wells. He could take me back to ancient Rome and Greece, to watch the pyramids being built.  I would barely remember to stop for food, for I want to know everything, see the past, right back to the beginning of the Big Bang.

The Bible, and how much of it is true, Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden. Moses parting the sea. The burning bush, I would like a few words there too. Moses should have come down that mountain with a lot more than Ten Commandments. Jesus, healing the sick, how much to believe. I think there is a little truth in all things. Myth magic and fairy tales are my past escape. Angels, not so much, although I would like to fly, to be like my childhood hero, Superman.

I used to steal my brother’s comics and read for hours, imagining I was all kinds of people. Tomorrow, I would be Achilles, fighting with his Myrmidons.

I think I should stop now and jog back to my own time…

Who would you like to spend time with?

©Anita Dawes