A well-beaten path stands before you. The grass sways in the wind beside the path. This wind beckons you, and you follow as it leaps over the grass. You’re being called to adventure. But then you ask yourself if you‘ll answer this call. Will you take a step off the conventional path? Or will you forever wonder what would’ve happened if you’d risked the unknown?
True Adventure
Henry begins by explaining the different types of adventure. The most common are seeming adventures:“They who are set down in print as [adventurers] have been mostly business men with newly invented methods.” Another common type is half-adventures, such as the crusades, in which the adventurer does something daring to obtain a prize.
However, true adventure is when you go forth randomly into the unknown. A true adventurer would be the Prodigal Son, who heads home to an unknown fate. Such is true adventure.
A Door to Adventure
One evening, Rudolf decides to walk through the city. As he draws nearer to a dentist’s office, he notices a tall black man handing out cards purportedly for the dentist’s services. Such advertisement being common, Rudolf rarely takes a card. Yet tonight, the crafty man slips a card into his hand.Rudolf marvels at the man’s dexterity and glances down at the card. What a surprise he finds there! For the card contains no information regarding the dentist, but has three words written on it: “The Green Door.”
In utter confusion, he makes his way back to the man. Again, the man gives Rudolf a card, and again it says “The Green Door.”
Hesitating no longer, Rudolf takes this as a call to adventure! He turns to the building behind the man and ascends the steps. Floor after floor Rudolf passes, until he comes to one with a green door.
Stepping up to the door, he knocks. After a while, when the door finally opens, Rudolf sees a frail young lady standing before him. In the same instant, she faints.
He carries her to a couch and sets her down. Upon waking, she confesses to him that she hasn’t eaten for three days because of her lack of money. He instantly responds by bringing back food for her.
As he gives relief to this young lady, Rudolf wonders what would’ve happened if someone else had received that card. He’s thankful that adventure led him to his new friend.
Through Rudolf’s fateful adventure, Henry beckons you to step off the conventional roads into the unknown. He emphasizes, as Trenton Lee Stewart says in “The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey,” “May your adventures bring you closer together, even as they take you far away from home.”
By following true adventure, you never know where you‘ll go, what you may meet, who you may meet, and who you can help. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your meaning and destiny by accepting adventure’s card.
