The Road to One’s Own Song

I have been very fortunate in the teachers I met early in life.

As a student, I was lucky to encounter extraordinary literature teachers in middle school. They were wise, caring, and deeply devoted to their students. Later, in college, I met a professor who taught Shakespeare, and I remain grateful for his selfless dedication to teaching and to his students.

Perhaps it is a strange thing, but the literature teachers I met along the way filled me with admiration and gratitude, and in the end, I too found myself on the path of writing.

Later on, however, I also came to feel disappointed in some teachers, and for a time I felt deeply disillusioned by their conduct and character. It was during this time that I came across a story that truly helped me.

Long ago, there was an American film called Crossroads. It tells the story of a young boy who is passionate about blues guitar. In search of a lost blues song, he seeks out an old man. It is said that this old man is the only person who ever learned that song. But the old man sets a condition: the boy must take him to the Mississippi crossroads; otherwise, he should forget about learning the song.

So the old man and the boy set off together on a journey.

Then one day, the old man reveals the truth: the song does not exist. When he was young, he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for extraordinary blues-playing skill. Now that he is old, the devil is about to come and claim his soul, as agreed. In order to help the old man recover the contract to his soul, the boy negotiates with the devil. The devil sets a condition: unless the boy’s playing can defeat the guitarist who plays on the devil’s behalf, the contract will remain valid.

The boy has no choice but to compete with that guitarist. At first, it seems he has no chance of winning. But unexpectedly, he returns to the music he already knew before he met the old man, and plays a blues piece infused with classical music. Because the devil does not know classical music, he concedes defeat, and the old man is able to recover his soul.

In the end, what carries us through is what we have truly made our own.