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About learning from other people

"You've got to take me with you - teach me everything you know." This is one of the lines in the first episode of Xena. Spoken by Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) to Xena (Lucy Lawless). The rest is history - and a beloved story for many people. Not only in Xena but in many other movies and series I like, the main story lines are often about learning something from other people: be it a skill, be it knowledge or be it the ability to truly love someone.

Since I was a child, I had always hoped that I would live a story like in one of the movies, e.g. that a wise Japanese master would turn up in my life, that Michael Jackson would walk around the corner, that someone like one of the Star Trek captains Picard and Janeway would turn up or that someone like Xena would come into my life. I was hoping for someone to be my guide, my teacher - my hope and my rescuer. Now that I am 29, I know that things like that only happen in movies - and when they happen, they do not happen to people as old as me. At my age, people would expect that you do not need any guidance or teachers. You would not need a Mr Miyagi or a wise captain.

Though, in Xena, things are a little different. Gabrielle is in her 20s when she meets Xena. But how likely would it be in our world that I would run into a warrior princess who would take me on her adventures with her and make me feel like I am the most special person in her life? Right, not very likely at all.

Did you ever dream of having a mentor, a teacher (different from school teachers) or a guide? Did you ever day-dream about being the side-kick of someone like Xena? Or how nice it would be to have a friendship with someone like Gandalf?

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