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Zenon's
lifelong dream:
As a boy, I used to dream.
Like every good catholic boy, I wanted to become a priest. But then
I also wanted to get married and have children.
Like Joseph, the dreamer, I had other dreams. Many I let slip
away, but I never stopped dreaming.
I wanted to become the best doctor in the world. I wanted to tread
on the sands of Kos, the school of Hippocrates. To renew my oath
before his shrine.
I wanted to become a knight, to ride as Sancho Panza beside his Don
Quixote.
I wanted to sail the voyages of Jason leading the Argonauts, with
Ulysses, Hercules, Laertes, Oedipus, Orpheus, to walk with
Achilles, Leonidas, Hector. I wanted to walk the labyrinth of the
Minotaur with Theseus.
I wanted to visit Hades with Orpheus. I wanted to see where Homer
wrote about the Illiad and the Odessy. I wanted to be beside
Ramesses the Great at his battle with and subsequent peace treaty
with the Hittites at Kadesh. I didn’t have much time for
Alexander.
I wanted to visit Ephesus where St Paul preached to the early
Christians, to visit Antioch the home town of St Luke, the
physician, the gospel writer, “the beloved and glorious physician”
my hero. I wanted to go to Egypt and stand barefoot before the
Pyramid of Saqarra.
Over the years, events have stalked me and pounced unexpectedly
upon me.
In my professional life, I have achieved incredible things –
especially for a working class boy from Footscray.
I have stalked and fought ogres, dragons, giants with my hero Don
Quixote. I have dreamt the "Impossible Dream".
Unlike the good Don, I have received a Papal knighthood. Equestrian
Knight of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. Who would have guessed?
I’m still chuffed.
I have been to Saqarra. I walked bare foot before the step pyramid.
I have been there before – a very long time ago. My next dream is
to go an archaeological dig at Saqarra.
Now. The opportunity to get into a sail boat, not much larger – but
hugely more comfortable – than a leaky rowboat with a square sail,
I am about to go out on a new adventure. With four friends and a
camera crew. What better introduction into the last third of my
life could I ask for?
My only regret is that my Joanne, my youngest daughter, will be
doing her final high school exams. She won’t be there to share my
dream and the adventure. But maybe next time.
I am reading Cervantes "Don Quixote". I am also reading Harry
Potter, again, but this time in my mother tongue, Polish.
I am once more transformed into the boy who listened to Jason and
Argonauts on ABC-3LO.
Are my dreams about to come true? If they do, what new dreams will
there be to dream?
During
the trip Zenon will conduct interviews with locals in various ports
on subjects such as health, art, history and religion.
Zenon’s
favourite saying:
“Every morning when I awake, I give thanks for the opportunity
of making someone laugh, meeting somebody new, doing something for
the first time and discovering something
different”.
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