WWBD - WHAT WOULD BATMAN DO?

"Each time a man stands for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope." - Robert F. Kennedy

If any fictional character exemplifies these words, it is The Batman, and his ideals and values have inspired millions of readers for more than 70 years. I have often argued that all kids should read comics - not any comics, mind you. Like any medium, comics run the gamut from kiddie humor to horror and yes, even porn. But Super Hero comics offer a unique way to impart real and lasting values to our children in the guise of a grand old adventure! No one likes to be preached to, but caught up in the "Bam"s and "Pow"s, kids can assimilate some important ideals without the inherent rebellion that comes anytime we try to tell them something "for their own good!"

"Wisdom from the Batcave" takes a look at the lessons hidden in the pages of the Batman comics. Rabbi Cary Friedman provides awesome insight on how we can use these lessons to live our own lives with more passion, integrity, and yes - heroism.

I honestly can't recommend this book enough. It's only 90 pages, so you can read it in one sitting, but I'm willing to bet (and hoping, actually) that you'll return to it again and again. In 18 chapters, Friedman looks at such complex issues as "The Blessings of Family", human potential, idealism, self-esteem, and "The Most Effective Way to Fight Evil."

Let me give you an example from the chapter "The Blessing of Family". As I'm sure 98% of the world knows, millionaire Bruce Wayne becomes Batman after witnessing his parents brutal murder. Friedman asks: "Did you ever notice that people rarely appreciate what they have until they don't have it anymore? Loss is often the first step in appreciating the great gifts in our lives....Many of us fantasize about wealth, power and fame...What does Bruce Wayne fantasize about?

"In Perchance to Dream, an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, the Mad Hatter captures the Batman and places him in an ideal imaginary dreamworld that he could never want to leave. What does the Batman dream about?...his parents alive and well. He fantasizes about nothing more grandiose or elaborate than to have his family...(something) commonplace and mundane for most of us.

"The lesson is clear. We may not have Bruce's financial success or his incomparable talents, but we are blessed with loving relationships. Even though our parents, siblings, children, spouses and in-laws are imperfect, they are still forces of love and support in a lonely world...Think what a happy place the world would be if we recognized that we already have what we really want...What if, instead of fantasizing about money, glory...we dreamed of growing old with our spouses, watching our grandchildren grow...Those are wishes that are within our grasp. But more importantly, they are wishes that bring lasting contentment, and not mere fleeting pleasures."


Wisdom from the Batcave is liberally sprinkled with panels from comics over the years illustrating the principals Friedman espouses. What makes Batman so useful in exemplifying these ideals, is that Bruce Wayne became Batman by choice! He wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider, he doesn't have a magic ring, and he isn't an alien being from another planet. He is a man, who chose to follow an ideal, to rise above obstacles, to take a stand! And we can all make the same choice. We don't have to don a pair of tights and beat up bad guys to make a difference in someone's life.

Friedman points out that there are opportunites every day for us to be as heroic as the Batman. "That is, if you consider to be a hero someone who helps people and makes a positive difference in their lives, refuses to bow to difficulty or adversity, and possesses integrity and principles in the face of seductive temptation...Is it any less heroic to help the people around us, perhaps even the members of our own families?"

If you're a Batman fan, this book is a must. If you're not, don't be put off by the Super Hero aspect. This book provides serious lessons and deep insights to simple, everyday truths. Actor Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. writes, "It was with a bemused skepticism that I sat down to read Wisdom from the Batcave. The idea of equating man's highest and noblest aspirations with a cartoon character seemed outrageous, to put it mildly. I couldn't have been more mistaken....A spectacular book!"

LIVE!

"Why fear tomorrow when today may be all we have?" - Anonymous

A friend of mine at the post office used to come in at all hours trying to keep caught up on a never-ending pile of work. He'd growl and curse and complain about all the same things that frustrate every employee everywhere, but he seemed to really care about doing a good job and put in lots of unpaid overtime. Thin as a stick, he smoked like a chimney, but he rarely missed work.

One day he experienced some weird tingling in his hand and went to a doctor to check it out. They told him he had cancer running rampant through his body and he would be dead within 6 months. I may be off by a couple weeks, but it seems to me he died about a month later.

Another friend of mine worked long hours at his computer job, sometimes 75 hours in a week. On his off time, he'd drive to Prague and work some more developing a business with a friend. A drunken off-duty Prague Policemen stabbed him to death.

A third friend was off in Scotland climbing mountains in April, and in May was struck down with Multiple Sclerosis. Overnight it seemed, she went from hiking the highlands to hobbling down the halls.

What's my point? Only that noone knows how much time we have here, and we often spend it in ways that don't really fulfill us, and we miss out on the important things at life. My friend who died of cancer, told me he regrets not spending more time with his son. I imagine my friend who was stabbed would wish now that he spent more time with his wife than at his desk.

Of course we have to work, and we want to provide well for our spouse and our children, but maybe your kid would appreciate playing catch in the yard with you a little more than buying him yet another video game. Or maybe he'd at least rather you played one of the old ones with him.

We as people spend a lot of time worrying about all the things we don't have, instead of reveling in all the things we do. In our drive to have more, we tend to forget how much we already have. We work more hours so we can buy more things, but we already have the greatest gift of all. Think for a minute about the people you love. This is what's important. Nobody is lying on their death bed thinking, damn I wish I'd spent more time at the office!

No matter how bad your life may seem, there are parts of it going great. Focus on them. Live in an attitude of gratitude! Maybe you don't have the money right now for a Wii, but you can be grateful that you have a car, or shoes, or a heart that has been beating for however many years without you even having to ask it! There is always something we can be grateful for!

I've been reading about Zen philosophy lately, and a major theme is living in the present moment. I think we could all benefit a little from that. We need to realize that a lot of the stuff we spend our energy being upset about, isn't really very important. If a car cuts us off in traffic, we might fume about this for minutes (or hours!) when the actual incident took a micro-second, and it is long over. Why waste precious moments of our lives being angry about something that is no longer here and now?

We only have so much time. Michael Landon, dying of cancer, advised: "Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows. "

The Devil's Birthday??

Halloween! The very word conjures up images of ghost and ghouls, of bubbling cauldrons stirred by cackling witches, of chainsaw wielding maniacs and things that go "bump" in the night. While most people view these things as nothing more than an innocent thrill, a safe way to explore our fears and examine our own mortality, there are those that describe a much more sinister meaning to this celebration.

My wife is a school teacher, and every year she tells me that some child in her class will announce that Halloween is actually the Devil's Birthday. This floored me! Never mind that in the biblical sense, the Devil is actually a fallen Angel, and as thus, can't have a "birthday", but what really drives me nuts is that someone is actually telling children this ridiculous lie.

First, the facts. All Hallowed Saint's Day originated around 609, and was initially celebrated in May. (In some cultures, it still is) Sometime in the mid 700s, Pope Gregory III moved it to November 1. Here in Bavaria, this is an important holiday where businesses close, ofttimes for the entire week. Families celebrate by visiting the graves of their loved ones, often decorating the graves with candles. The night before this holiday was known as All Hallows Eve, which contracted to Hallows e'en and eventually became Halloween.

So, I'm pretty sure the Roman Catholic church wouldn't create a holiday on the Devil's Birthday.

Okay, Mark, thanks for Etymology lesson. But how does that have anything to do with ghosts and goblins? Glad you asked. For the answer to that, we have to go back a bit further...

The ancient Celts of Britain and Ireland (going back to say 5th century BC) celebrated their New Year with a 3 day festival, the middle day of which was called Samhain, literally "summer's end" and October 31 marked the end of this season, and the onslaught of winter. Harvests were gathered, livestock was brought in from the pasture, weak animals were slaughtered, meat dried for the winter, and a great feast was had before the hard, hungry days of winter.

They also believed that on this night the veil between this world and the faery world was at its thinnest, and the mischievous denizens of the otherworld could cross over and wreak havoc on the living.

Some scholars believe that the wearing of masks and costumes was sort of a safety measure - the spirits wouldn't bother you they thought you were one of them.


Trick or treating may be linked to the practice of leaving food outside to appease these spirits, or as offerings for ones relatives. Similar things are done during the Dia de los Muertos in Mexico, and the Obon festival in Japan. Having lived in Japan for two years, I witnessed them leaving altars outside their homes stacked with food, and lit in the evenings by paper lanterns to help guide their loved ones home. Could jack-o-lanterns have had a similar purpose?

Another possible origin for trick or treating could be the Medieval Christian practice of "souling", carried out on November 2, when people went door to door begging for soul cakes in return for prayers.

These harvest festivals were vitally important to ancient rural cultures, and I suspect the Pope's moving of All Saint's Day from May to November was an attempt to put a Christian spin on a secular festival. But, no matter how you look at it, historically, Halloween has nothing to do with the Devil. For any associations our culture has in that regard we can thank Hollywood.

Now for the rant!

This Devil's Birthday thing angers me, not cause I love Halloween, but because it feels like a lie being told to gullible parents and their children to try and control them through fear. And fear is the root of all evil, in my opinion. But that is a topic for another day.

Nothing has any meaning but the meaning we give it! If you choose to believe that Halloween is evil, then for you, that becomes a reality. But you can just as easily believe it is nothing more than an American tradition, tracing its roots back to a time when harvests and the cycles of the moon literally meant survival for an agricultural people. Only thanks to rampant capitalism and the American Candy industry - Snickers Bars now takes the place of apples and pears!

I know people who won't have a Christmas tree in their house because 1000 years or so ago, this was a Scandinavian fertility symbol! But the meaning we give it TODAY is a symbol of peace on earth, good will toward men. The meanings of ancient times have no bearing on symbols today. The Swastika has been around for thousands of years and in dozens of cultures, but no matter its origin, TODAY it represents Nazi oppression and death. But it only means that, because we attach that meaning to it.

So you can believe that children dressing up as Spiderman and visiting their neighbors for a lollipop is inherently evil, but personally I'd worry more about the hours they spend watching some of the garbage on TV.

Now if parents are telling their kids this Devil's Birthday crap, it's bad enough, but if this lie is coming from the Church, it's twice as bad. It raises the question, if they'll lie about something so simple, what other lies are they telling people?

It reminds me of when that movie "The Golden Compass" came out, and Christian groups got up in arms, warning parents not to allow their children to see the film, that it was anti-god, and watching it would surely condemn your soul to hell. Now, I never read the book, and I know the author readily admits to being an atheist. However, the movie adaption seemed to me more about censorship. The "evil organization" in the film preaches conformity without question, don't think for yourself or you'll stray to the dark side. They sought to control the people's thoughts by not allowing them to hear other views. And the Church in real life acted exactly like the "bad guys" in the movie! Telling people not to even SEE the movie due to its "terrible" message.

I think it is the responsibility of parents, teachers, ministers, everybody - to teach children to think! Not just to regurgitate our own opinions so we feel significant, but to weigh varying views, consider alternate possibilities, and then make their own decisions.

I believe that the Truth will always prevail, and that it's tough enough to handle a bit of dissension. Seek out different ideas, and weigh them against your own. How can you know you're right, if you've never even heard other views?

Rant off! Your turn, now! Leave a comment and let me know you're take on this!