My crusade isn't always a happy one. Others in the real life superhero movement ( RLSH ) easily echo this sentiment. While I brand myself a " happy warrior " perpetual bliss is far from the case. I wrestle against the confines of the ordinary. The ordinary tells us misery is reality and activism futility. It cautions that crusaders ( caped and otherwise ) are the stuff of comic books and pulp novels, a far cry from what's laughingly called the real world. Struggling against the ordinary is often confused with being delusional. Movement members and the like minded everywhere counter that the worst " delusion " is feeling you can't change your part of the world for the better.
Comic book and pulp novel fiction feed steady supplies of larger-than-life characters to readers hungry for heroic escape. While entertainment for some, observers like me use them as blueprints for a more realized life. The trick isn't to simply recreate what's in their pages. The real trick is releasing the best inside yourself that skeptics, including ones in our mirrors, feel doesn't exist. Daring to be more than your resume also means daring to fail. Big. The trade off is occasionally doing things similar to comic book or pulp novel characters.
Climbing a fire department ladder to assist my 85 year old neighbor was one such moment. Another was initiating and graduating from my hometown's first FBI Citizens Academy. Past bounty hunting exploits before openly becoming a RLSH join the list. Starring as the subject of a student film about my Capt. Black activities adds definite icing on this cake.
RLSH war happily against the ordinary. Not doing so undermines our creative approach to community outreach and crime prevention. While this war isn't always a happy one, our joy is the fruit of escaping the ordinary: ensuring the hungry are fed; the homeless are helped; crime is solved and most importantly, people inspired to shrug off being ordinary, if only for a moment.
When you're an activist of any sort, especially in this movement, warring against being ordinary keeps a smile on not just your face but on those of everyone you meet.
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. http://www.captblack.info and http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nadraenzi
"When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail." - Pearl S. Buck
"The moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out." - James Baldwin
About me.....
- Dragonheart
- I'm a dreamer and perhaps too much of an eternal optimist. I always try to look at the glass as half full. Defiant and ferocious towards those who would seek to unjustly harm others, I speak my mind...for better or worse. Where as some view compassion as a weakness I view it as a strength. I try not to live in the shadows of my regrets because doing so dims the light and the promise of a new day. I do not strive for perfection for this is the quest of fools and denies a man the blessings of humility. The bonds of true friendship and family are to be protected...sometimes by the cunning, stealth, and tenaciousness of a mouse but other times by the wrath and fury of the dragon. I am one and yet I am both. This is my truth.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment