HERO COMPLEX

I’m having a bit of writer’s block here and I’ve only written one blog since last year! I’m pretty sure the problem is that I have been pretty busy working and have not had enough time to drink. As most of my life lesson’s have involved at least a banana daiquiri or two, you can see how one may develop writer’s block while going through detox…so I wrote a couple versions of this next blog and I’m just going to try and piece them together. I’m sticking with the concept that we will all write about the same topics and as Pat has written about hero’s and hash tags I will next try to do one on twitter or hash tags…but he owes us one on his journey to finding “Wonder Woman!” So, here are my ramblings…enjoy!

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time by myself in my room playing with action figures. That’s not a confession, it’s just the truth. I’ve always been pretty good at entertaining myself and I think after reading so many comics and watching a lot of cartoons that featured these hero’s that I had action figures of, I enjoyed acting out different scenarios where the hero’s would be put into situations where they would have to save people. What a concept, for one person to save another?! What an amazing thing this is, the basic concept of super heroes. The writers may have added these “powers” that assist in this endeavor and it may seem like in the Amazing Spiderman where the line, “with great power comes great responsibility” comes from, that these heroes are thrust into action rather than choosing it, but we also see the opposite side of the coin, the super villains. The basic idea is this, we all have the ability to do good or bad, what we choose to do is up to each and every one of us.

I’d like to think that I have always been a strong proponent of doing good. I have a very strong belief in people and their ability to do good, but that doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen and that I haven’t done bad things in my life. I’ve drank too much, said mean things that I later regretted, ran naked through the streets of Grand Forks, got involved with some shady drug deals in Minneapolis, and last fall I was maced in Minneapolis while trying to defend one of my friends…

So, I’ve done bad. So, how, you may ask, could I consider myself to be a good person and even title this blog “Hero Complex?” Well, besides being a huge “fan boy” who enjoys playing with action figures, I also believe that some things are worth fighting for, and that somehow I can make a direct impact on these things. I believe in myself, and my ability to do good as well. I sometimes get down on myself when my attempts fail, but the important thing to remember is that I tried…

Who hasn’t wanted to fly like Superman, or swing from building to building like Spiderman, have all the sweet gadgets of Batman, or be almost indestructible like Wolverine?! We probably all have had those days when we feel indestructible, where nothing can hurt us and everything just seems to be going right, and on those days we feel very much “Super.”

Sometimes we take those feelings a little too far, and thus begins my latest blog…

I’ve always had an uncontrollable urge to help people, which I would say is one of my greatest qualities, but it has also lead me into a lot of predicaments. I think one moment that really stands out to me as a lesson learned and never forgotten came from my Grandpa Al one Sunday when he was over for dinner. My mom and I were arguing about something and I said something mean or yelled at her, and my Grandpa, who was always such an easy going, fun loving guy, reamed me a new one. I’d never seen him so upset and I felt absolutely terrible afterwards. I apologized to my mom and have always tried to treat women with the utmost respect ever since.

One day while working at our family business, I was cutting apart tubes when I could swear that I saw a guy behind me push his girlfriend…I thought my eyes must have been deceiving me because I had never seen someone do something like that in public before, but sure enough she came back by him and he smacked her across the face! …and that I cannot abide! It didn’t take long for me to get into it with the P.O.S and before long I was trying out my super skills with him and several of his buddies. Luckily for me, at that precise moment several of my “super friends” were getting off of the river and joined in the battle. Now I’ll be the first to admit that fighting is one of the dumbest things I think you can do, other than punching a brick wall, but having said that…don’t let me catch you ever hitting a woman or bullying anyone. I’m not big on bullies and let’s just say that the brick wall got off light.

But that’s a good example of the crap comic books have put into my mind. For some odd reason I thought that one man could take on a whole group of guys despite how badly I was outnumbered simply because it was the right thing to do. So yeah, super hero complex.

That story turned out pretty well in the long run for me, as I did not get hurt and the next time the guy came down to the campground the young lady was no longer with him, so hopefully that was a win for her! (He was quickly reminded of his last experience at our facility and I suggested that he leave as soon as possible…)
So that was a win, more recently I had a harsh reminder that you cannot always save everybody and that all super heroes have weaknesses.

Last fall we went to Minneapolis for a bachelor party for one of my best friends. We had finished at one bar and were on our way over to a very seedy gentleman’s club when one of our friends was thrown into traffic by some random person! He was able to avoid any serious danger, but I ran up to see what was going on when two guys came after me. I wrestled one to the ground but then the other one started kicking me while I was down…then the cops showed up. Turns out it must have looked like I was the instigator as I was being choked by the guy on the ground and kicked in the head by the guy standing above me because the nice officer decided to unleash his entire bottle of pepper spray on me. Apparently my whole head and all of my clothes were completely white from the spray…I couldn’t say, I couldn’t see anything.

On a side note, if anyone out there ever has the wonderful experience of being pepper sprayed, make sure you take a shower to flush out the spray from your eyes…that way it covers your entire body and you don’t sleep for two days because you are on fire. On a bright side, I am now officially certified to carry and use pepper spray!

I’ve spent a lot of time reading comic books and graphic novels over the years, I still do even today…yeah, I know, I’m a bit of a “fan boy” but what the heck. The stories are usually about someone developing powers that they ultimately use to stick up for people in need. I’m not very religious but the one thing I do believe in is people, and their ability to do good, so super heroes have always been of great interest to me. But you don’t need to get bit by a radioactive spider, get exposed to gamma rays, or be born on Krypton to be a super hero. Sometimes all you need to do is stick up for someone getting bullied, or be there when a friend needs you. It may not seem like a “super” act to you at the time but it can mean the world to them.

In Pat’s blog he talked a lot about that last point, that he saw the “super” qualities in the people in his life, be it his parents rescuing him when he “flew” off the garage, or comparing his wife to Wonder Woman. He showed us all how doing those little things can make us appear “super” in someone’s eyes…and isn’t it pretty cool how he thinks of his wife as a super hero?! Shouldn’t we all hope for that kind of a relationship?

For me, the super heroes in my life are my family and friends. They’re the people who take the time to give me a call when I’m feeling down, give me a job when they know I’m struggling, and the ones who stick out the tough times with me and let me know that they’ll always be there for me. They’re the ones that take in their brothers and sisters when they lose their parents, or bring thousands of dollars worth of silent auction items to our charity auction (just to buy most of them back at the end!), and hell, they’re the ones who write blogs with me, and all of you that read them. I have a lot of super heroes in my life, and for that I’m thankful!

Now, it’s Sunday and it’s time for my alone time with my super hero action figures. Today we’re going to save the world from the severe banana shortage…