A Moment of Clarity

At a cross roads the struggle is to cut through the expectations, the prestige, the trappings and decide what we actually want-especially if there are no bad options. We must specialize. No longer is there room for the Renaissance man, jack of all trades—shaping society, enmeshed in the questions of the age, the universal critic and philosopher holding a mirror up to the world. You check a box signing up for a career track, a 9 to 5— a life. Only a few get to break out of the box and the world looks at them askew, labeling—rebel, dropout, nonconformist—worrying that they will be disruptive, or worse, that their actions pass judgment on the masses.

Both choices are outside the mainstream. A Scholar, studying dead languages and ancient texts, so remote that in many cases the original has passed out of existence or an artist dreaming, drawing and creating, working to make a vision for the world—people laugh and shake their heads, “if only they were serious and did useful work. Which of these can be useful? Can shake society and let them know this is not a waste? Which can help me grow and stretch and fly? Both have their norms and rules and own little boxes. Where can I break out? Is it possible to be just me?

Either way, how does it help? How does one change the world? Are there merely two parallel paths, both of which have merit or is there a way? One burning path? Some people spark and blaze, with every word echoing through history? Can you choose that path? Is it something thrust upon you? Other ripple, the effects of small deeds subtly spread without our notice.

Which road is mine?

Cause You gotta be bigger, and be faster, and be stronger
if your gonna survive any longer
in this lifetime it better be the right time the first time
might be your last time
am I a failure if I got nothing to lose
No, I'm not a failure, I've got something to prove

Cause I've lost my innocence and I'm a stranger, A life changer
I'm a man thats not afraid of danger
I walk my own path, and blaze my own trail
because I'm not afraid to derail
I won't get in line or be a middle man
so fuck you I'll make my own plan
and I got respect and I dont neglect
the people that i really care to protect
am I a failure if I got nothing to lose
No, I'm not a failure, I've got something to prove

Hero Complex

***Do not read this if you have not read or watched Watchmen and are planning on doing so. It contains spoilers.***

Facing down ones doom and performing the job that is in front of you even in the face of inevitable death--as Aloysha pointed out this is truly heroic. Yet, I found the fact that he used Hector in his comparison very interesting. While Hector does die heroic in battle he is from a world where that is not necessarily the norm for heroes. It is so full of gods and demi-gods that death is not necessarily a certainty. Even Hector's adversary, while not invincible, did not have the same vulnerability as a normal man. These heroes though are usually tragically flawed--Ajax tried to slay his comrades, the Greek leaders, and then eventually kills himself, Hercules in a fit of rage and madness killed his wife and sons. This madness is always tied to their superhuman strength or power--the thing that makes them a hero.

It is when heroes are removed from people, when they no longer see themselves as being on the same plane as the rest of humanity that the dark side of heroes emerges. Sometimes, like Ajax and Hercules, in their rage or madness the hero sinks to the level of a villain. However, often times the supposed hero will elevate themselves in their minds to the level of a god. They stop seeing humanity as people, a individuals with their own hopes and fears and desires, and the ingenuity to shape their own destinies. Instead they view humanity as a puzzle, something to fix.

This belief is often pervasive among people in power. As Mal notes in Serenity "Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better." It seems so simple that "saving" people, the roles of a hero, should mean making all of their problems go away.

When seeing Watchmen this past weekend that was one of the most striking parts. Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) believes that he and he alone can prevent nuclear Holocaust and that this is his mission. He views this not as pride and arrogance but as a type of martyrdom saying he made himself suffer with every death he caused, to feel their pain. He is above the ranks of men, being "the smartest man alive" and styles himself as a modern Alexander the Great. It is from this belief that he feels justified making the decision to kill millions of people in order to trick them, thus staving off the possibility that billions don't die. The comic does a good job of showing where this logic leads and just how twisted it can be. The movie, however, fails to pass judgement on Adrian. Dr. Manhattan ends up agreeing with his logic while Dan and Laurie never come down strongly on either side, believing instead that the issue is to big for them and so the decision should be left up to someone like Adrian--a hero. Without the "Tales of the Black Freighter" it is only Rorschach who condemns Adrian's actions, and by that time his moral compass has been called into serious question. I think that is was a problem with adapting the comic for a movie and having to cut parts, but it made me really wonder if people viewed it as ok for a "hero" to play god? Or was that assumed in the definition of a hero that the producer/director/writer didn't notice that they were cutting this important discussion out?

The more I see heroes portrayed as bordering on gods, as beings with the power if not the right to decide the futures of those around them, the more amazing the Incarnation seems. Instead of being sent a savior akin to a hero in tights and a cape who would sweep in make a better world, humans were sent someone who was fully human. Instead of being forced or tricked into salvation, or suffering from a hero's madness, or being tempted to the level of heroes our self, fulfilling man's ancient desire to "be like gods," we were met by someone fully human, someone who wept and got tired, and offered us a choice. As JP II said in Redemptor Hominis "Human nature, by the very fact that it was assumed, not absorbed, in him, has been raised in us also to a dignity beyond compare. For by his Incarnation, he, the son of God, in a certain way united himself with each man."