The Noble Hector
In Greek mythology, Hector was the son of Priam of Troy and was that city’s greatest warrior as the Trojan Prince. Troy is in modern day Turkey and was the first stop we made on our last international motorcycle trip through that exotic and lovely country that seems to be systematically being destroyed by its authoritarian leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Erdoğan has run turkey as either President or Prime Minister for almost twenty years, and before that as long-time mayor of Istanbul, he has more or less held sway over this major crossroads between East and West, between Europe and Asia, this cultural and historical center of human existence. While spending time in Turkey several years ago, I was quite taken with the history of this place and its major city that sits on the Bosphorus between the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. This place that has gone by the names of Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul and has spent time as a center of Christianity (for the Christian portion of the Holy Roman Empire…the second Millennium of the Empire) until the Ottoman Turks cast out the Christians in favor of their Muslim traditions. Erdoğan rose to power as a Muslim leader, not unlike the granddaddy of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who rose to power in the fascist period when Hitler and Mussolini rose to their power. By contrast, Ataturk was a reformer and progressive who is still honored by institutions like UNESCO for his role in bringing Turkey into the modern world and for the benefit of a large swath of the 84 million people who call themselves Turks today. It seems strange that another Muslim leader like Erdoğan would work so hard and so ruthlessly through pseudo-populist strong-man tactics to undo so many of the great advances made by Ataturk, a true giant of strength who stood up to a world to the benefit of his people. Hector would have liked Ataturk and would have fought against the likes of Erdoğan, I believe.
I know that we like to think that the Ancient Greeks were men of honor who stood up like King Leonidas at Thermopylae against the advancing Persian hordes out to destroy Sparta. But the Greeks were also at times war-like marauders who launched a thousand ships against the “evil” Trojans, who were minding their own business back across the Aegean. This cornerstone of Greek legend was enshrined in glory by Homer in both The Iliad and The Odyssey. But the real hero of the Trojan War was less Agamemnon or Achilles, son of Peleus, and more Hector, the Prince of Troy who bravely stood up to Achilles and met his end. While Achilles is portrayed always as a warrior, it is noteworthy that Hector is often portrayed as a family man who is both noble and courtly. In fact, during the Middle Ages, it was Hector who was noted by scholars in Europe as the one who held fast in the face of adversity and therefore was named as one of the Nine Worthies, the good heroes. These legends of chivalry were thought to be Hector, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Joshua (leader of the Israelites after Moses), David (as in the eventual King who got his start slaying Goliath), Judas Maccabaeus (the man honored by the Hebrew holiday of Hanukkah), King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon (the leader of the First Crusade and perhaps the least worthy of this accolade…but then what did the scholars of the Middle Ages know?)
I thought of all of this fanciful history because today I advanced my work on my Hobbit House by having an epiphany that I would greatly benefit the progress of my work and ease the wear and tear of my about-to-turn 68-year-old body, if I had some help. I made the command decision to go to Home Depot in San Marcos and pick up another day laborer for that purpose. I hate “choosing sides” with all the day laborers standing there looking for work, so the first guy who I saw and who came to my passenger car window was a youngish man wearing a woolen cap (it does get chilly in the early morning, which is when day laborers get hired). He spoke enough English to ask me what kind of work I had and what hourly wage I would pay. I said it was to help me build a casita de jeugos para mis nietos (playhouse for my grandchildren) and the wage was $20 per hour. He agreed and asked if he could follow me in his car, which was my first surprise since I am used to having to chauffeur my day laborers.
When we got to my house, Hector introduced himself to me properly and very politely parked his car off the road at the bottom of the driveway and brought with him a bucket of tools and gloves, something I had never seen day laborers do. Clearly I had chosen a different sort of day laborer. Over the course of the morning, Hector told me (we spoke half English and half Spanish) that he was a proud holder of a permanent resident card (the fabled Green Card) and to prove it he showed me his California commercial driver’s license. It seems he had worked for a long time for a contractor who used him to not only do a lot of painting and sheetrock work, but also to drive materials back and forth to Mexico. Even though he had been moved here twenty-five years ago (at the age of 16) by his mother, he has chosen to do what many Mexicans (he is from Guadalajara) do and that is to work in California, but live for a life in Mexico. Hector has a farm where he raises chickens, pigs and four horses outside Guadalajara, and he proudly showed me pictures to prove it. Hector is a father of an eighteen-year-old son who lives in Oceanside and I found that he referenced him all the time in our conversations. He is clearly trying to be a good father day-to-day.
My readers know how I feel about immigration and hard-working immigrants. Hector and I worked side-by-side for the better part of ten hours today. He was fine staying a bit longer until we could finish the sheathing of the house. Every spare minute when I wasn’t giving him direction on sheathing or some task, I would see him immediately bend down to rake and set the limestone pavers I have bought for the path leading to the Hobbit House. I did not tell him to do it, he just did it instinctively. He seems to have learned that taking initiative is noticed and appreciated. I got more done in one day with Hector than I could have in three days by myself. He understood the mission and the level of commitment to what I wanted to accomplish today without being told. Hector was a noble laborer who took pride in his work.
When we broke for lunch, rather than run out to some fast food place, I took him to the newly opened pub in Hidden Meadows where we sat and had a civilized lunch together. He very much appreciated the meal and especially the dignity that it signified that I treated him as an equal. I did so because Hector is my equal. He is younger and has a different life experience, but he found humor in the things I found funny, he and I shared similar thoughts about the state of the political environment and COVID world we are living through, and we both cared deeply about our families. Hector had dreams and aspirations, not only for himself, but also for his son. In fact, I was sorry to see Hector go. He felt like a friend at the end of the day of working together. He said he would look forward to seeing the completed Hobbit House some day. I liked Hector and will call him again when I need some help. The noble Hector is every bit as worthy as the scholars of the Middle Ages said.