At long last, the journey comes to a close. Mark ye, it began in 1987, as I made the transition from boy to young man, and for while stalled soon after, but in the sand, dust, smoke and gods know what else is in the air here in Afghanistan, here and now it comes to the end, and what a long strange trip it's been. Figured it out yet? If not, a little more for ya, and may it do ya fine, I say true and you say thankee. What I speak of is a journey not taken by my feet, on ground solid or otherwise, but of the imagination, bourne along by the words of another, whose journeys both real and fantastical act not as guideposts along the way but a companion on the road we all travel as we make our way to the clearing at the end of the path. Still with me? Then let me ask you this: what was the ultimate lesson of the Dark Tower?
Yes, after many long years I've finnaly finished the original seven (yes, I know there's an eigth, but it only fleshes out the story already told, and does not change the end of the seventh) books of Stephen King's The Dark Tower. I started reading the The Dark Tower in 1987, the Gunslinger and the Drawing of the Three the last books I would read by Stephen King for many a year, until I found myself once again far from home in Afghanistan. I only brought with me a couple of books on this deployment, content to read whatever was already here while I have time on my hands. One of the books I found was Under the Dome, and I rediscovered why back in the late eighties I had read so many of Stehen King's works. As I lay in bed one night I had the thought to finally read the entire series in one go, to finish what I started long ago, and so a couple of orders from Barnes and Noble later I had all seven books, and I started from the beginning. Bittersweet memories from that time came back to mind as I turned the pages of the Gunslinger, no longer as heavy on the heart as they once were, and again I found myself travelling with Roland Deschain towards the tower at the end of the world. Along the way I met new and endearing companions, shared their moments of happiness and despair, tears of joy and sorrow and loss, and especially the laughter from those rare and unexpected moments; "Oy! Eld! Thankee!". And not 30 minutes ago I came to the end, to the top of the Tower with the gunslinger as he stood before the final door, and opened the way his ka, his singlemindedness and tenacity had created for him when he took his first steps along the path to the end of the world, and the beginning of another; or was it the next turning of the wheel of his life?
What is the lesson of the gunslinger and the Tower? I'm sure many a long debate on an almost inifintie number of points will never truly answer the question, but only breed more and more questions until one takes that final step across the threshold of the final door and finds themselves back where they started, and mostly none the wiser. I 'm pretty sure that as time marches on the wording of the question will never change, but the meanings it seeks will, especially if you take the journey again and again. So in answer to the slightly modified question I put forward before, at this point in my life what is the lesson of the gunslinger and the Tower to me? Journey's end means naught, when it brings you back to the start; stop and smell the roses, and when a door is drawn that takes you to another world, step off the path of the Beam and walk through to find again what was lost, because in the end, they're the most important things of all. Besides, the Tower isn't going anywhere, is it?
Yes, after many long years I've finnaly finished the original seven (yes, I know there's an eigth, but it only fleshes out the story already told, and does not change the end of the seventh) books of Stephen King's The Dark Tower. I started reading the The Dark Tower in 1987, the Gunslinger and the Drawing of the Three the last books I would read by Stephen King for many a year, until I found myself once again far from home in Afghanistan. I only brought with me a couple of books on this deployment, content to read whatever was already here while I have time on my hands. One of the books I found was Under the Dome, and I rediscovered why back in the late eighties I had read so many of Stehen King's works. As I lay in bed one night I had the thought to finally read the entire series in one go, to finish what I started long ago, and so a couple of orders from Barnes and Noble later I had all seven books, and I started from the beginning. Bittersweet memories from that time came back to mind as I turned the pages of the Gunslinger, no longer as heavy on the heart as they once were, and again I found myself travelling with Roland Deschain towards the tower at the end of the world. Along the way I met new and endearing companions, shared their moments of happiness and despair, tears of joy and sorrow and loss, and especially the laughter from those rare and unexpected moments; "Oy! Eld! Thankee!". And not 30 minutes ago I came to the end, to the top of the Tower with the gunslinger as he stood before the final door, and opened the way his ka, his singlemindedness and tenacity had created for him when he took his first steps along the path to the end of the world, and the beginning of another; or was it the next turning of the wheel of his life?
What is the lesson of the gunslinger and the Tower? I'm sure many a long debate on an almost inifintie number of points will never truly answer the question, but only breed more and more questions until one takes that final step across the threshold of the final door and finds themselves back where they started, and mostly none the wiser. I 'm pretty sure that as time marches on the wording of the question will never change, but the meanings it seeks will, especially if you take the journey again and again. So in answer to the slightly modified question I put forward before, at this point in my life what is the lesson of the gunslinger and the Tower to me? Journey's end means naught, when it brings you back to the start; stop and smell the roses, and when a door is drawn that takes you to another world, step off the path of the Beam and walk through to find again what was lost, because in the end, they're the most important things of all. Besides, the Tower isn't going anywhere, is it?