To Some, Bananas Aren’t Enough¶
April 12th, 2025
“Stay up here, it’s much safer” — said the mother monkey to her child. The child came down anyway. You’re reading this because he did.
We are here because, to some of our ancestors, the banana wasn’t enough. They were looking for something beyond the branch, beyond what’s known. I’m fairly certain their parents told them it was a terrible idea to leave the trees. But in search of a better dinner, they were willing to risk becoming the lion’s.
Gamblers don’t always win — but winners have always gambled first. You can play it safe your whole life and never lose anything, except the thing you were actually after.
The strange thing is, every great adventure starts somewhere warm. In The Hobbit, it begins in Bilbo’s beautiful home, full of good food and good smoke. In The Name of the Wind, it starts in the small caravan where Kvothe was born, surrounded by music and the smell of his mother. The heroes don’t leave because their lives are bad. They leave despite the fact that their lives are good.
There’s a scene I come back to often. The night before the journey begins, Bilbo looks out his window into the dark and sits with himself, with his choices. He knows what he’s about to give up. He goes anyway. And later, deep in the worst of it, he thinks about the smell of bacon in his kitchen — not with regret, but with tenderness. That’s the whole point. It’s better to be on the wildest road of your life and think of home, than to be home all your life wondering what’s out there.