Love Is for the Lucky and the Brave declared the fortune cookie Gillian puts in my hand as I watched Chinese girls doing ribbon dance at ballroom dancing celebrating the Chinese New Year. Lucky is the troubabour whose songs win the heart of the woman he loves as he goes off to battle in the age of chivalry as a knight in combat. "You are very brave" Marlene Dietrich tells Gary Cooper when he pulls her to his lap as she sells him an apple that he has no money to purchase. You are brave courting your beloved abandoning all fears of rejection. You are lucky if winds blow your way when she says "Yes" to your proposal. Brave is Sir Gawain when he accepts Green Knight's challenge to be beheaded. Lucky is he who receives three kisses and the wife's garter for protection. Joseph Campbell quotes Schopenhauer— "How can one sacrifice one's life for another?" and relates the story at Pali, Hawaii where two policeman saw a man ready to jump off a cliff— the policeman grabbed him as he jumped & the other policeman rescued them both. The police said "If I let him go, I couldn't live for another day." Schopenhauer's answer is that crisis marks a breakthrough in realization— that you and all the others are one— Lucky & brave are those who have found this love.   Peter Y. Chou   Mountain View, 2-18-2019, 2:35 am

Troubadour from Manesse Codex (1340) Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper in Morocco Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (14th century) Police rescued man jumping off Pali cliff in Hawaii