I recognise with...

I recognise with...

I watched a lot of movies as a child. Been a Batman fan for over 27
years & counting. I've always been more into the psychology of events
& personalities. So I don't judge people as readily as before.
Everything we see in the movies, read in comic books, watch in
cartoons...they are all precursors to what we haven't yet experienced.
If we've experienced them, then they are points of empathy in a
selfish world. I don't believe there's any nobility in profit-seeking
alone. I very much doubt that any commercially successful movie was
put together for the hope to validate the lives of people in need of
it. I just take what I can. And move on. In this light, I would like
to put together a personal honour roll of real & imagined
personalities that I recognise with.

I recognise with...
Batman/Bruce Wayne for his belief beyond the limits of his body &
choosing to break his mind so as to mold it into something less than a
god and so much more of a man. You don't need to be a billionaire to
avoid responsibility...or to take it up.

J. J. Okocha for knowing when to bow out. For loving what he did. For
not giving in when his freekicks failed the team. For handling
captaincy awkwardly for the first time and doing brilliantly later on.
For staying simple.

Michael Corleone (GODFATHER I) for recognising the demand of taking up
the mantle. It is a simple thing to run away. It is a curse to outrun
yourself, your destiny.

Alexander the Great. Never went into a fight without seeking approval
from his gods. Always good to his mother. Was a sound leader. His men
had never faced war-elephants before, but he stood his ground & his
men stood theirs.

Julius Ceasar. He read of Alexander's exploits & questioned himself to
the point of loud tears. He couldn't fathom betrayal. It is the same
as lack of faith. All will taste of it. Few will walk away. I did. Not
to be mistaken for rejection, betrayal means your worth as a person
was no more than a meal to another person. It hurts so very much.

Malcolm (Little) X. He couldn't fathom betrayal either. It robbed him
of his blindness, dogmatism, unforgiveness & drive for segregation. If
you've not read his biography, you wouldn't know that wanted to
apologise to the white girl whose offer to help he had turned down. He
never got the chance to. I keep that in mind when I think of people I
should forgive or ask forgiveness from. He was impatient with people
who didn't wear a watch. He felt disrespecting the time of others was
disrespecting their person. He also loved others as he loved himself.

Decimus Maximus Meridius (Gladiator). He was an example of a man.
Always in control. Avoided the fearful. Took risks when required.
Mocked false nobility. Remained a leader of men by example & deed,
even as a slave in a ludus.

The Joker. I may not approve of his motivations & his work (face it.
We as a race are homicidal.) his understanding that we are not in
control is basic to my understanding of this world. What he calls
chaos, I call the will of God. Our individual beliefs of what should
be is nothing more than refined petulance when compared to God's will.
It was said (Frederick Neitzsche or Fernando Pessoa, I'll sort that
out later) that in the presence of supreme authourity, all protests
cease. I believe that. Without flinching. I'm not the King of Random,
but I'm working on it.

Che Guevara. I can work a kalashnikov, I could kill in self-defence,
but I couldn't stand by, feeling useless as other people in need of my
help are denied it...by me. He came from a privileged family. He left
all that to rescue people who weren't even related to him. He died
doing that work. He lives on shirts and portraits. Those who killed
him...no one cares. No one.

Jesus (bar Joseph) Christ. I once shuddered in absolute fear when I
considered what it would have been for mankind, if he had chosen to
turn evil...just for the sake of it. I'd just fallen as a christian &
I went through all the people I'd disappointed. Then the idea came to
me. It is said, & I agree, that doubt is the beginning of faith. I
examined my doubts that led to my fall, the things I'd surrendered for
the brief pleasures, the resentment I had for those who looked up to
my shining example because I felt it was too much to put on my
shoulders. And I thought, if Christ had decided we weren't worth it,
if he had said, "Fuck it! They won't be as holy as me. So many going
to hell already. What's the point?"
Only a dogma-driven person would imagine that He didn't share the same
passions as we, the same hunger & thirst, the same frustration at
being misunderstood. I'm glad he was stronger than me then, stronger
than I'll ever be. I recognise with him because he's not an enshrined
figure in the past. He's a current personality. Living. Real.
Involved. Interceding. Man can never reach God where he is in
perfection. But he can reach down to us in our imperfection. He can
lift us up. He has. I took his hand. He, my life. It's good

--
Sent from my mobile device