In my previous post
about a time and place where patriarchy honoured sexually experienced women rather than virgins and the sexually inexperienced, I talked about Marco Polo (1254-1324) the Italian explorer. The Tibetan culture that esteemed sexually experienced women that much was seen and experienced first-hand by Marco during his trip to Tibet when he was just around 17.
You can read that previous post for more, but for those who haven't read it, this custom is some jaw dropping eye widening one. The culture is, the men of the towns wouldn't marry a woman unless they know she has had a lot of past sexual partners. Each past partner is to give her a ring or a small object, the more she collected (usually at least 20) the more she's fit to be a bride.
In these towns older women gathered their single daughters and relatives and took them to men and travellers passing by just to meet up, and as a traveller you can get twenty to thirty girls at your disposal. Crazy crazy shit! This was what Marco Polo at 17 traveling with his father and Uncle experienced When they got to Tibet.
Now, Marco Polo is a famous explorer and his exploits are detailed in his book The Travels of Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione, c. 1300). Many of the things described in that book including this Tibetan culture were not believed by Europeans back in those days but as time went on these cultures and phenomena were being verified and the modern world now knows Marco Polo told no lies.
Marco Polo and his Dad and Uncle were heading for China when they stopped at Tibet, then they continued to China. I'm trying to tell you that that right there, this acceptance to continue to China after happening on Tibet was the greatest task Marco ever accomplished amongst all the adventures and achievements in his portfolio.
On their journeys Marco and his companions went through a lot, cold, illness, fatigue and were even attacked by bandits who ambushed them in a sandstorm! An attack that killed a number of his compatriots. He met Emperor of China Kublai Khan and was appointed a Foreign emissary because he was intelligent and could speak 4 languages.
He lived in China for up to 17 years, travelled about a lot and when he returned to Venice, Venice was at war with Genoa. He joined the war efforts and got imprisoned for about 4 years, and published the autobiography above through a cell mate who was a writer. Then he became a wealthy merchant and started a family, but in all of these his greatest achievement still remains accepting to pack his bags and leave a place like Tibet back in the day.
Why? Because I remember myself at 17. If I had the opportunity if bumping into a place like that with all those girls, if after days of raw doggying my dad tells me it's time to leave I'd look at him with disbelief and ask him if he is serious.
No way in hell I'm leaving!
I'd tell him he and Uncle Maffeo can keep going and leave me behind. I already see myself, it is night and I'm staring into the void with my back to my dad, my clothes waving in the wind. My dad tired of trying to convince me, saddened and solemn walks up to me and places his hand on my shoulder:
'My son, why don't you want to leave with us?'
'Father, I have found my own destination, I have found the land where I belong.'
He'll ask me what I'm going to do for a living here, if I'm not going to waste my life here with these girls, whether I don't have a dream or calling I wish to achieve. To which I'd reply:
'Father, I have found my calling, this is my calling.'
He'd ask 'What about this is your calling?'
'Helping these bitches get fit for marriage and achieving their destinies. Life is not all about one's self, its just like what Mahatma Gandhi said: "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." Or what Albert Einstein said: "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." Or what Marcus Tullius Cicero said "Non nobis solum nati sumus. Not for ourselves alone are we born." Or what Pablo Picasso said "The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away." Or what Zig.."
'Yo, that's enough, I get the point. Damn!'
Me at 17? I'd do anything, I would run away or even fake my own death like Machiavelli, I'm just not going anywhere.
That's why I say this single act of moving on was the greatest achievement of Marco Polo. Now that I think of it, he probably wasn't playa enough.
