Now Moments

Now Moments

Now Moments, by Tiger Todd

"Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed." - Corita Kent

Business owners today know how great it would be to have someone else take some of the weight off their shoulders for a while. Of course, finding that someone who could do what we do and treat our customers the way we want is the real trick. But what if your life was run by someone else? What I mean is, if someone other than you stepped into your life, starting today, would they manage it any differently than you do? Would that person take care of your family as well as you do? Would they approach your job, your clients, and your challenges in the same way that you do? A fun exercise is to imagine how well a famous person would do at your job for just one day. Imagine Sylvester Stallone answering your next sales call, Bono dealing with one of your customer service needs, or Condoleezza Rice negotiating your next important deal. Would they mess up your beautiful system or sales approach, or could their unique perspective bring something new to the situation?

While I've never thought of playing the role of Condi or Rocky with any of my customers, I am ashamed to tell you that I did play the part of Bill Murray's character from Ghostbusters...once... with one of my electronics business clients about 20 years ago. This well-to-do professional was having a full-out tantrum over the way his car alarm was malfunctioning. After listening to his rant for what seemed like an eternity, I cracked. Channeling the irreverent "Dr. Peter Venkman", I turned to my client’s wife - while her husband was it mid-rant - and deadpanned, "Was he an abused child?" Yes, it's true. By delivering a movie line in the midst of a very serious customer service situation, I acted even more childish than my customer did. And the situation got funnier still. While my customer continued his rant, uninterrupted and totally oblivious to my comment, his wife answered me in total sincerity and with her best New York accent. "Why, no,” she began. “He came from a very good family." Life imitating art. Or maybe it was art imitating life? It still surprises me that the client became one of my dearest friends, but only after I was able to remove the ghost from his machine. It was also the last time I ever allowed a fictional character to run my business for me. Or was it? Hmmm.

“Do you think that’s air you’re breathing now?” – Morpheus, The Matrix

What do you have to work with NOW?

Let's get back to what you may be going through, right NOW. Some problems and challenges last so long that we think they are the rule instead of the exception. But what if we could give these kinds of problems a fresh look, perhaps through the eyes of an outsider who is not so emotionally attached to the lasting pain of what's still not working? It is my belief that when we approach something again for the first time, or in the NOW, we begin to see the opportunities, not the problems and difficulties.

In the NOW, problems and difficulties seem like nothing more than a couple of flies in the ointment. A few years ago, after retiring from my company, I was called back in to resurrect lagging sales and dwindling resources. I left the business when it was firing on all cylinders and returned to more problems and challenges than I could count. Significant market and industry changes, coupled with some strategic mismanagement, demanded that the company's mission and purpose be redefined, and fast. I'm not sure if it was due to the length of time I had been away from the business, or just the mood I was in that crisp Autumn morning, but I had an epiphany. I stood out in front of that store with its manager and instead of thinking about what we didn't have, I naively asked, "So, what do we have to work with NOW?"

"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities disguised as impossible situations." - Charles R. Swindoll

Take a Different Kind of Inventory

That NOW MOMENT back in the late 1990s not only interrupted my negative pattern of focusing only on how bad things were, it also evoked a litany of answers for creating future success. “What do we have to work with NOW?” What resources, assets, and opportunities do you have available to you right NOW? Your particular business, through fresh eyes, is filled with untold treasures, in the same way a garage sales is like the Promised Land to eager neighbors. In my business, what we didn’t have was much cash flow. But we did have hundreds of customers whose names, addresses, and buying habits we knew. We had a lease that was paid up until the end of the month. The lights were still on - for another 3 weeks! We had dealer agreements and relationships with our suppliers that allowed us to connect customers with the products and solutions they needed, both NOW and in the future. In the NOW, everything becomes an opportunity!

"The best thing about the future is it only comes one day at a time." - Abraham Lincoln

What treasures are lurking behind the pain and numbness of your business? If things are still spinning too quickly, making it hard for you to get a fix on your opportunities, get off the merry-go-round! In whatever business you are in, I encourage you to step out from your daily demands long enough to take a NOW moment. And don't just get off to immerse yourself in some mind numbing or escapist behavior, only to have to return to the pain of your job or business in an even foggier condition than when you left. When you take a real NOW moment, stop all of your busyness and assess your surroundings and assets by asking yourself these three questions:

1. "What do I have to work with right NOW?"

2. "What is the best use of these resources NOW?"

3. "What could I do NOW that would take full advantage of these resources, to the benefit of my customers, my staff, and my family?"

You may find that you’ve been spending too much time in the office communicating with QuickBooks® when your strength is in communicating with clients. Perhaps your NOW moment will remind you as mine did of the importance of working within your strengths. How can you and I keep wearing a face that shows the stress of business and expect customers to be excited about buying our products and services? When I decided to pay a bookkeeping service to carry the weight of my office for me, it freed me both literally and emotionally to follow through with our clients as never before. The result? We opened a new location in just 3 months.

That business of mine survived for many years and through many market fluctuations, challenges, and flat-out disasters while many others had gone extinct. I didn't even need an actor or a stunt double to take my place! I just needed to step out of the pressure long enough to see that in the NOW, my business had value, purpose, and a reason to be. All I needed were some committed business experts to work their magic in the areas in my back office so I could rediscover my passion and purpose again.

Are you ready for your own NOW moment? Late tonight or early in the morning, before the phones ring and the demands of life take hold, take a moment for the NOW. It won’t be long before you are back to enjoying not only your business, but each and every person you meet while on the journey to your next level of success. -TT

©2009 Tiger Todd * All Rights Reserved * For Reprint Permission, www.HeroSchool.us/Contact

The Teen Whisperer: Reversing Right and Wrong

Reversing Right and Wrong

by Tiger Todd

"The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong” - Carl Gustav Jung, Psychologist, 1875-1961

Sometimes, a decade or two can go by before we understand what really happened.

Every now and then, the voices in my head are replaced by videos in my head. These videos recount the moments from my former “lives” where I wish I had done something differently. One such moment was when I had been selected as the starting pitcher for our junior high softball team. This memory begins with the thrill of victory, and ends all too quickly in the agony of defeat…or at least I thought it had. It wasn’t until I observed a similar experience years later - like a deja vu - with a friend’s son at a junior high school tennis tournament that I learned that some memories can be rewritten.

Each afternoon during junior high softball practice, I would repeatedly pitch the ball right over the plate and right through the strike zone. This accuracy and consistency had earned me the job of starting pitcher for our season-opener against Boulder City, and with it, some junior high celebrity. If you’ve ever been selected as number one at anything, it is a feeling you can get used to very easily. I was walking tall from the moment I was chosen…right up to the point when the coach pulled me in the 4th inning of that fateful game. Did he pull me because I couldn’t find the strike zone and walked too many batters? On the contrary; I had pitched too perfectly. It was the same way I had pitched in practice, but now every batter was knocking my beautiful pitches all the way to the fence! How little my underdeveloped teen brain really knew about the “big picture” back then.

Dean Drummond: "Baby, high school's over. "

Prudie Drummond: "High school's never over."

- The Jane Austin Book Club, 2007

"Age merely shows what children we remain."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When my friend’s son Chandler was in junior high, he had no equal playing tennis for his school. Consequently, he was selected to play in a citywide tournament at the Monte Carlo Hotel in Las Vegas. Watching his first match unfold as an adult, I was immediately impressed by the boy’s composure on the court. But it was his “purpose” on the court that raised some concern. Rather than challenge his opponent with his usual winners, Chandler seemed to take pleasure in setting up his opponent with lob after beautiful lob, only to watch helplessly as his beautiful lobs were unmercifully returned to his side of the net at twice the speed of sound. His parents were mortified, having just witnessed their son’s decimation in the very first match. I, on the other hand, was beginning to see a parallel to my own junior high school failures and just maybe I could keep him from bigger failures to come.

It takes more than practice to make perfect

“The world is governed more by appearance than realities, so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it.” - Daniel Webster

Between matches, I took Chandler to the McDonald’s in the food court and shared my softball experience with him- and my most recent revelation about his tennis strategy. “You know, you aren’t supposed to play tennis in competition the same way you do in practice,” I counseled. “Huh?” he grunted, in that very special way that teens do, their lower lip about to leak saliva. I then explained that at softball practice, my coach wanted me to pitch balls in the strike zone so the other players could practice hitting the ball, much in the same way tennis coaches encourage their players to carry on long rallies so both players get ample practice. What my coach failed to explain was that the way to pitch in competition was just the opposite from the way to pitch in practice! Maybe my coach assumed that I had watched baseball growing up - which I hadn’t - or that my teenage self had a fully developed frontal lobe - which the National Institute of Mental Health proved I didn’t (Yergulan-Todd, 2001). Whatever the reason, I still lived 20 years after junior high without knowing what I had done “wrong”! This episode perhaps explains why I am so passionate about teaching teens “what I wish I knew” about the entire Circle of Life.

Truth is what works.” – William James

But let's look at the even bigger truth here. We can agree that the “right” way to pitch in practice is without question the “wrong” way to pitch in a game. But how can the right way sometimes be the wrong way? I’m glad you asked. When it comes to our methods, “right” and “wrong” are often relative to the time and place of the event. Now don’t get too excited because I referred to right and wrong as “relative,” as if I said something heretical. We all have our trigger words but I'm going to ask that you keep from jumping to old conclusions until you've read all the way to the end. Just mentioning the philosopher Nietzsche, for example, in my weekly class of homeless men makes many of this overwhelmingly Christian group tense up - and start to hate me - as if any philosopher's rant was more powerful than God. And while were on the subject of "revaluing values", I’m not the only one who recommends a more balanced education than one from a single category. In fact, some of the most famous proponents of righteousness believe that learning what both sides know is the best form of education:

“Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Jesus, Matthew 10:16b

Interestingly, while many great teachers throughout mythology, religion, and history teach a similar lesson, educational programs today are often only one-sided. Knowing just half of any story puts us at a distinct disadvantage, and not knowing when and where to employ a particular strategy is often the difference between those who get promoted in life... and those who get replaced. Is it any wonder why so many good people - whose only education came from “sheep” school - get…well… fleeced? Let's also keep in mind that when dealing with right and wrong, I am talking about methods and approaches, not ethics and moralilty. I just can't find in any literature where being a "lamb to the slaughter" is anyone's "calling."

“If a heroes are those who risk their own lives to save others, then villains are those who risk others to save themselves.” – Tiger Todd

If we truly expect to produce teens that succeed, while simultaneously protecting them from the villains of this world, we should engage and empower both sides and all the parts of their brains (front and back), as well as both parts of their inner beings, by learning from both “sheep school” and “serpent school.” At least consider combining “social services school” with “business school.” Imagine how much more effective our future educators and social workers would be at producing responsible citizens from their students and client if in addition to using their current strengths, they were also masters of organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, and business law. They could rule the world!

Do what I say, not what I do.

"We have seen the end of an either/or world. Conventional business models are built on choices between mutually exclusive options... For the foreseeable future, you must think 'and', not 'or'." - Peter Sheahan (2007), Flip

I don’t know about you, but I like being right. Not just for the sake of being right, mind you, but so that I can have confidence in my actions. Nothing is more deflating to our confidence than when we are "iffy" about our “right-ness.” It especially sucks when we know what we are doing is just plain wrong. Taking from the quote by William James, we can know that what we are doing is wrong by the fact that it’s not working. From these tennis and softball examples, however, we can see how the lives of our teenagers can suffer - sometimes for decades - because we don't teach them both sides, nor how to connect their approach with their desired result. If a tennis approach brings the desired result, only then can it be deemed the right approach. My lack of awareness of this truth stunted my growth and development for 20 years. Rather than see my future as in the control of my hands, my hands were tied to fixed definitions of right and wrong that were made obsolete by an ever-changing and very diverse world. Instead of investing my energy in mastery, I was wearing  myself out defending ideals that I could not prove nor support.

The Dilemma of Taking Sides

The master communicator, Joseph Campbell, once shared a story about the dangers of "right and wrong" thinking. As the story goes, a Monk in 1980’s Southern California, while flanked by his “constellation of beauties,” began collecting hundreds of minnows from bait shops along the Monterey peninsula to release into the Pacific Ocean. This pious act appeared to be going well until local pelicans saw the flickering feast of fish, like a disco ball advertising an all-you-can-eat buffet, and swooped in for the free-or-reduced lunch. The ensuing chaotic scene continued as the horrified priest and his faithful supporters used every item of their clothing to beat the pelicans away. Still, one unanswered question remained: is it “right” to save minnows, but somehow “wrong” to feed pelicans? Joseph Campbell states that the real error made that day was in not understanding that what is “good” for pelicans is “bad” for fish. The priest erred by having taken sides (Osbon, 2001).

There is a final aspect to this lesson for wise heroes and heroines. Moving “right” and “wrong” from the realm of outdated actions or beliefs and into the realm of time and place or motive and intent, will not only help our teens develop their own on-board judgment and reasoning skills, but it will also help develop their inner hero. Maybe that’s what “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” really means. This is the very dividing line between heroes and villains; heroes give of - or risk - their lives to save others, while villains risk others' lives to save themselves. So while heroes could use their powers to harm others, they- you - are defined as those people who choose instead to use your powers for betterment of humankind.

"All sciences are now under the obligation to prepare the ground for the future task of the philosopher, which is to solve the problem of value, to determine the true hierarchy of values." - Friedrich Nietzsche

With our youth today, there is an essential need to share both sides of education. Not only can our teens today “handle the truth” that the right way in one situation might not be the right way in another, they will respect us more for being honest with them. By teaching teens how to reason rather than simply memorize facts or the dogma of right and wrong, they may also be able to avoid having their childhood experiences gestate into unresolved internal conflicts that war against the soul for decades.

But wait, there’s more...

“Will he finish what he begins?” Yoda

I have yet another risidual effect from the lack of awareness from my own teen years. It is one that affected me late into my adult life, and one that may offer another clue as to why more and more young people today are failing to complete what they begin. Returning mentally to that ill-fated softball game, I now remember that the trauma from being yanked for what I thought I was doing right. Soon, I began missing practices until I eventually stopped showing up for softball altogether. I never finished that softball season.


"Will he finish what he begins?" - Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back

This inner unresolved conflict did not dissuade me from starting new sports like tennis, soccer, or basketball, but by not finishing softball, I had inadvertently begun the habit of not finishing what I begin. As if some unseen force was stalking me, I couldn’t finish any of the new sports either. Each time I quit, I  continued to reinforce the pattern that was set from just one lesson I didn't understand in softball. Even today, it is a challenge for me to finish anything that I begin, from classes to books to relationships. Sure, I've started countless businesses and projects, and penned a dozen books. But seeing them through to completion takes everything I have in me, and everyone I know around me. Thanks to all of you who continue to help me finish things. Enablers:)

Brain research from Cornell University, first published by the National Institute of Mental Health in 2002, confirms the “flight” reaction from this inner conflict between right and wrong so prevalent among teens today. According to Dr. Deborah Yergulan-Todd and Dr. Jay Geidd, the undeveloped frontal lobe and nearly non-existent prefrontal cortex of the teen brain, route these conflicts directly to the amygdala(s). This "do not pass go - do not use reason, good judgment, or rational thinking" influences teens to either fight to get their way, or take flight if they feel powerless. As a teen, my lack of understanding triggered the flight response. I'm a lover, not a fighter. Not only did I run instead of learn the cause of my inner conflicts, I foolishly nurtured the habit of not finishing.

We Can Do Better

If you notice any of the teens in your life avoiding certain activities or showing difficulty in finishing what they begin, help them to interrupt this pattern now. Help them to understand that the right way in one circumstance isn't necessarily the right way in another, and that it's O.K. It's O.K to play tennis two different ways, like working on extended "rallies" with friends, and hitting winners in competition. Please, for the love of our young people, don't make the same error that the adults did in my life by telling them that there is only one right way and that way must be used for everything. Keep in mind, the adults in my generation also told me about the "Three R's." It took my a long time to discover that only the word "Reading" begins with the letter "R"! 

"Right" is relative, from practice to games, and from reading for enjoyment to reading to defend the innocent. Sometimes doing the right thing in a relationship means being the mature one and taking the blame for those things you didn't even do.

Help your teens increase awareness and rational thinking by encouraging them to list many possible choices to their behavior, including the potential consequences. And for the adults, don't forget that our goal with teens is not to be "right" or convince them of our way. Rather, our goal is to help the young people in our care change into responsible, self-sufficient adults who will go the distance in what they begin. What will the teens in your life need to hear from you to help them get there? -TT

Mini Essay: Nietzsche, A Hundred Years Ago

Superman:

A Hundred Years Ago

by Tiger Todd

“The only dance masters I could have were Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Walt Whitman and Nietzsche.” -Isadora Duncan, founder of modern dance 1877-1927

"Man is a rope fastened between animal and Superman, a rope over an abyss... What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal."

- Friedrich Nietzsche, from Superman

As a philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche penned many works and words, including the one we use often in Hero School, Hubermensch, or Superman. Some of his works were used by heroes to justify sacrificing their own lives for others, while some were used by villains to justify sacrificing others' lives for their own evil purposes. While not considered a hero or a villain, Nietzsche's words illustrate a confidence not often seen in heroes of the 21st Century.

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

- Winston Churchill

Why are there so few confident heroes today? Have heroes today become too shy? Perhaps people prefer the silent, modest hero. But do we really? Sales and rentals of action hero movies don't appear to support this idea. Maybe what we want most from our heroes- and ourselves- isn't bravado or arrogance, but confidence. We don't want them to brag, but to have the courage to make guarantees. We expect guarantees on products likes televisions and vacuum cleaners, so why don't we expect the people we trust to be confident enough in their expertise to guarantee their results, too? Imagine a world where every doctor would guarantee successful outcomes after procedures, every teacher would guarantee the students in their care will make AYP, every broker would guarantee (legal) stock dividends, and every politician would guarantee that social problems will not only be addressed, but solved. These will be our 21st Century heroes.

Is this too much to ask, or should we continue to set the bar even lower when we are the very people to set it higher?

American Brad Walker clears on the way to taking gold in the

men's pole vault, ahead of Romain Mesnil and Danny Ecker

(©2007 BBC)

“For the task of a revaluation of all values, more capacities may have been needed than have ever dwelt together in a single individual"- Nietzsche, Ecce Homo II:9

An interviewer once asked Nietzsche how he felt about those critics who reviewed him unfavorably (R.J. Hollingdale, A Nietzsche Reader 1977). To this, Nietzsche calmly and confidently replied, "How can they possibly understand me- I'm the only who has this information!" Pretty confident. Not that we should agree with everything every philosopher says. And even if everything they said was valid, we've each had what we've said misinterpreted by others and used against us. But does this mean we should "cast away our confidence" and stop trying? The main reason why we still read about the people we do today is not because they were right or wrong- we read about both- but because they exhibit such great confidence in what they believe. Do you?

"In the end, even treason is just a matter of dates."

- From The Count of Monte Cristo

Still, it is Nietzsche's next sentence that struck me as the most compelling statement of confidence. Nietzsche continues,

"But a hundred years from now, there will be some who will begin to understand what I am saying."

I may not have the confidence yet to believe that the words I write today and the works I do during my lifetime will be read about for generations to come. But I can believe that the words of the the great philosophers and apostles that we are reading today were written for us today. I also believe that they were written to help us become the ones who would write for the next generation.

Don't let your modesty become mediocrity by trying to get under one another or by being less than the next guy. The world doesn't need any less. They desperately need the more. It is OK to have the confidence of a hero in your professional life since, as Nietzsche put it, you are a bridge and not a goal. You are that bridge between a person's life now and how they need it to be in the future. So put on your confidence and be the heroes you were born to be. Who knows, maybe someone will be reading "you" a hundred years from today.

Comic Message: Batman, "The Dark Knight Descends"

The Dark Knight Descends

by Bryan Stroud

“Well, certainly Batman is a hero, but Batman is the antithesis of the superhero if you think in terms of what superheroes have become."

- Neil Adams, Batman Artist

“When the student is ready, the master shall appear.”—Buddha

Does this quote sound familiar? It should. It’s one of many inspirations and thoughts here at good old heroschool.us. It seemed a fitting prologue for the thoughts I wanted to share with you this time out.

Did you know, dear reader, that this year, 2009, marks the 70th anniversary of the debut of the Batman in Detective Comics? Issue #27 from May of 1939 introduced the Dark Knight Detective to the world and he’s been with us ever since, not only in comic book form, but also as a newspaper strip, animated character, television star, and movie star several times over. For all those 70 years he’s managed to capture the imagination of people all over the world. Why? I’m sure there are many reasons, but I suspect one of the primary ones is the fact that this character is very human. He doesn’t have other-worldly powers or abilities, only the skills he has worked hard to develop on his own.

Batman is, in many ways, one of us. Despite that, there’s something of an enigma to this persona. In the novel “Batman Knightfall,” by Dennis O’Neil, a new villain by the name of Bane enters Batman’s world, and in his first encounter with the World’s Greatest Detective, he speaks the words that perhaps many have thought:

“How strange. You are a creature cloaked in nightmare. A thing of terror. Yet you will not break the Fifth Commandment. You do not kill.”

Even Denny O’Neil in his afterword makes mention of the fact that this is an unusual hero:

“But if he is an archetype, he should have earlier incarnations. Other denizens of the mirror world certainly do. Superman is a modern version of Gilgamesh, Hawkman is Daedalus, Flash is Apollo, the Hulk is Hercules… But if we look for an earlier version of our man, we find little or nothing that can be labeled “hero.” We’re successful if we search for him among the villains: the demons, the bloodsuckers, the were-creatures, all the dwellers of dark places, all those who shun the light.”

In an interview not too long ago with Denny O’Neil, he told me that he preferred writing for human-scaled characters, so Batman was a favorite of his. Furthermore, when I interviewed Neal Adams, one of the quintessential Batman artists, he said this:

“Well, certainly Batman is a hero, but Batman is the antithesis of the superhero if you think in terms of what superheroes have become. You know, bitten by a radioactive spider is pretty much the standard. Batman is the opposite of Superman. You have Superman, who is the most powerful superhero there is, essentially and almost too unrealistic to consider to deal with, and on the other end of the scale, you have a person who is, in fact, not a superhero at all. Batman is a NOT superhero. I don't know who else is a NOT superhero and is successful. I mean, there have been guys around who have put on costumes and have acted like superheroes, but generally they get themselves pasted. Batman succeeds where no one else succeeds. He is not, in any way, a superhero. He wears a costume, but that's to scare people.”

Neal is, of course, correct. When Batman first appeared in Detective comics so long ago, he was very much the grim avenger, perhaps modeled on The Shadow. In that first story, a mere 6 pages, he literally uttered dialogue in only 4 panels.

It wasn’t until he was given his own self-titled book, Batman #1 in the Spring of 1940 that we even learned his origin, which revealed that the young Bruce Wayne was with his parents, walking home from the movies when an armed thug tried to rob them. When Thomas Wayne resists, he is shot and killed, as is Bruce’s mother, leaving him an orphan and the sole witness to the crime. This drives Bruce to spend the next several years dedicating himself to become a master scientist and detective and honing his body to physical perfection so that he may one-day wage his one-man war on crime so that others do not go through the horror he did. One night at his home, musing by the fire, Bruce Wayne utters these classic words to himself:

“Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot, so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible…a…a…” Just then a huge bat flies into the open window. “A bat! That’s it! It’s an omen…I shall become a bat!”

Source of excerpt below: Batman: Dark Detective #2, page 14; reprinted in Batman: Dark Detective trade paperback (DC Comics, 2006), page 40;

written by Steve Englehart, pencilled by Marshall Rogers, inked by Terry Austin

Going back to the Knightfall novel, Denny O’Neil also delves into Bruce Wayne’s memories:

“Young Bruce, wandering the globe. A university here, an apprenticeship there. Paris, Chongju, Cape Girardeau, Manchester, Bhopal, even Krasnoyarsk and Zimbabwe, anywhere there was anyone who could teach him anything he might find useful.”

And that brings us full circle, dear readers. Remember the quote at the top of this column, “When the student is ready, the master shall appear”? To me, the essence of the Batman is his preparation and willingness to learn. He gave himself a mission and then set about doing the things necessary to prepare him to follow through with it. Similarly, our lives, to be lived heroically, require similar preparation, through the gathering of as much knowledge as possible and through the development of those requisite physical attributes. One of the consistent themes at Hero School is taking care of the body- the temple of the spirit- through exercise and nutrition. These not only strengthen and improve our physical performance, but also allow our mind to excel as well.

"Every man is my superior in some way.

In that, I learn of him." -Emerson

Is Batman a hero? Absolutely, positively. Do we have the same stuff that has made him what he is? Again, absolutely, positively. So, my admonition is to do likewise. Learn and prepare, remembering that learning is available in many, many places outside a classroom. Avail yourself of inspirational material from books and other media and never neglect the great resource of others who can mentor and teach you so that you too can benefit from their wisdom and experience. Yes, knowledge comes in many forms and it all is beneficial to the student who is ready and willing to listen. -TheProfessor@HeroSchool.us

Comic Message: Batman, "The Case of the Chemical Syndicate"

"The Case of the Chemical Syndicate" by Bob Kane (& Bill Finger).

Article by Bryan Stroud

"The "Bat-Man," a mysterious and adventurous figure fighting for righteousness and apprehending the wrong doer, in his lone battle against the evil forces of society… His identity remains unknown."

The story begins in the home of Commissioner Gordon, who's entertaining his "young socialite friend, Bruce Wayne." Bruce is sucking on a pipe while Gordon works on a cigar and the Commissioner mentions that this fellow called the "Bat-Man" puzzles him. It is then that the telephone rings and Gordon learns that the Chemical King, Lambert, has been stabbed to death and his son's fingerprints are on the knife. The Commissioner invites Bruce along and they speed to the Lambert mansion. After visiting the crime scene, Gordon goes to another room in the mansion where a clean-cut but semi-hysterical Lambert proclaims his innocence. He explains that as he was walking by the library he heard a groan. Upon entering, he discovered his father on the floor and noticed the safe was open. He also got the impression that someone had just leaped through the window. Pulling the knife from his father's body, he heard the man's last words, which were "…contract…contract…" That explains the fingerprints on the murder weapon. The Commissioner asks if Lambert's father had any enemies or people with interests in his business activities. The youth recalls his three former business partners, Steven Crane, Paul Rogers and Alfred Stryker. Just then the phone rings and its Steve Crane, trying to reach the elder Lambert. Gordon takes the call and learns that Lambert had called Crane the day before and told him of an anonymous threat on his life. Now Crane has received one, too. James Gordon tells him to sit tight until the police can get to his house. Bruce Wayne takes the opportunity to depart and allow the Commissioner to do his work.

We then segue to the library of Steven Crane, just in time to see an armed figure take his life and then a paper from his wall safe before slipping out the window. Pulling himself to the rooftop, he meets his accomplice and confirms that he has the paper. It is only then that they discover they are not alone on the moonlit roof. The menacing figure of the Bat-Man is there and soon he leaps into action, decking the first hood and sending the second flying with a judo toss. His gloved (not gauntleted) hand grasps the paper and leaves the roof before the police, who have recently arrived on the scene, can question him.

Crane's butler informs Commissioner Gordon that Mr. Crane has been murdered. Gordon says they'll go to Rogers' home next.

The story fades back to the dark figure of the Bat-Man, who has read the paper. Smiling grimly, he speeds away in his car (a less than subtle red car that looks nothing like a Batmobile) to an unknown destination.

We now join Rogers, who has learned of Lambert's death by news broadcast. He's decided to visit Alfred Stryker, but no sooner has the man at the door let him in than he, Jennings, lays him out with a blow from a blackjack. Jennings then carries Rogers to the basement laboratory and ties him up while cackling to himself that one more is out of the way and soon he'll control everything. When Rogers comes to, Jennings points out a glass enclosure above his head. It's a gas chamber that he uses to kill guinea pigs for experiments. Once he lowers it, the gas will kill Rogers. Jennings starts the mechanism that lowers the chamber and then exits to turn on the gas. It is then that the Bat-Man leaps through an open transom, scoops up a wrench from a table and leaps forward before the gas chamber covers Rogers. The mysterious caped figure then uses a plain old handkerchief to plug up the gas jets before swinging the monkey wrench and shattering the gas chamber. When Jennings returns, he pulls a gun, but the Bat-Man is too fast for him, administering a flying tackle followed by a left that leaves him in dreamland.

Moments later, Alfred Stryker arrives and asks Rogers what has happened. His former colleague informs him that his assistant, Jennings, has tried to kill him. Stryker quickly pulls a knife and says that he'll finish the job and then drop Rogers' body into the acid tank below. Once again, it's the Bat-Man to the rescue as he springs from the shadows and disarms Alfred Stryker. When Rogers asks why he tried to kill him, the Bat-Man, while holding Stryker tightly by the lapels, speaks for the first time: "This rat was behind the murders! You see, I learned that you, Lambert, Crane and Stryker were once partners in the Apex Chemical Corporation…Stryker, who wished to be sole owner, but having no ready cash, made secret contracts with you, to pay a certain sum of money each year until he owned the business. He figured by killing you and stealing the contracts, he wouldn't have to pay this money."

Following this revelation, Stryker breaks free of the grasp of the Bat-Man and pulls a pistol from his jacket. A terrific left sends Stryker tumbling over the edge of the platform and into the acid tank. The Bat-Man merely comments, "A fitting ending for his kind." He then slips away.

We now switch scenes back to the home of Commissioner James Gordon where Bruce Wayne is again in attendance. Gordon is relating the story to Bruce, who seems to be fairly bored by it all. The last two panels, however, let the readers in on a little secret: Bruce Wayne returns home to his room…a little later his door slowly opens…and reveals its occupant…if the Commissioner could see his young friend now…he'd be amazed to learn that he is the "Bat-Man!"

Movie Message: Quantum of Solace

Movie Message:
Quantum of Solace

A Movie Hero Matures
by Tiger Todd

Night before last, I found myself watching Roger Moore as James Bond in the 1973 classic, Live and Let Die, for probably the first time in 20 years. Observing 007, the resourceful British Secret Service agent through the 20+ film series is equal parts great entertainment and a vehicle for transporting viewers through time. Not only do we get a taste of more exotic locations and cultures than House Hunters International, but we also get to witness just how much these different cultures and societies have matured. The latest installment of the Bond franchise,  Quantum of Solace, continues this trend, but there is something more. Quantum is the first film in the series whose story and action continues from where the last movie left off, and, more importantly, instead of focusing on the maturation of a culture, we experience firsthand the maturing of a hero.

Quantum delivers more than just a glimpse into the most beautiful locations and present-day cultures, from Italy, England, Haiti, Austria, Russia, and Bolivia- I lose track of where else. While Bond leaves empty shell casings and more than a few dead bodies in each of these fabulous locations, he is simultaneously being set-up as the bad guy, a common theme where the one true hero is a threat to both sides of the law, a la Spiderman. As with the inner conflict between revenge and duty experienced by Peter Parker and Spiderman, Bond himself struggles with feelings of vengeance, betrayal, sorrow, and anger for the death of Vesper, the agent-turned-lover-turned-double agent from Casino Royale. Bond must somehow manage what Nietzsche calls “the war which he is” long enough to stay alive and save the planet from a network of villains bent on global domination.

But what makes this Bond film so extraordinary is its accuracy in depicting not just the inner conflict of the hero or heroine, but the lessons that can keep us from becoming just like the villains we loathe.

What this Bond has in depth, however, he still lacks in maturity. His lessons begin through his boss, “M,” played coldly, confidently, and brilliantly by Dame Judi Dench. M only expects "duty" from her agents and so is continually surprised by 007’s “arrogance and self-awareness” which, she adds, “seldom go hand in hand.”


Orestes and Apollo, attributed to Eumenides painter; Apulian, 380-370 BCE
Paris, Louvre Museum

M is initially perplexed by Bond but soon realizes he needs some instruction to redefine his experience. While former Bonds excelled at arrogance and womanizing, Daniel Craig’s 007 in Quantum perfectly exemplifies the conflicted hero of history, like Marcus Aurelius; Mythology, like  Orestes; and religion, like King David. To deliver this lesson, M must draw on the divinely feminine role of Wisdom, or 'Sofia' in the Hebrew voice, the feminine guide to kings from David to Solomon. Wisdom is the hero’s guide into the future and into himself. In one powerful and pivotal scene, Bond has returned to his hotel suite to find M-as-boss accompanied by myriad agents poised to arrest him. In this same moment, Bond is informed that the innocent girl he charmed into bed the night before has been killed by those after him. While Bond blames the villain, M shifts deftly into the role of Wisdom, focusing on Bond’s carelessness:

“Why her, Bond? She was just supposed to send you home. She worked in an office, collecting reports. Look how well your charm works, James.”

While we Bond fans may agree that “kill-or-be-killed” appears to be Bond’s only choice in his line of work, M points out that bad guys aren’t the only casualties of the hero’s tumultuous life. Bond must learn to think first before charming people into his life- or into his bed- particularly if he can’t be there to protect them when he's out fighting evil. You and I affect so many other people’s lives, and while we cannot always protect them from evil, we can at least not endanger them further by carelessly involving them with villains hell-bent on getting to us. This is quite a lesson, and one better-learned through Wisdom - or through a movie like Quantum - rather than through experience.



“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” - Henri Bergson

But the real story in Quantum is how Bond chooses to judge himself while simultaneously learning to overcome the pain and suffering spawned from betrayal and love. Bond holds it together, as many of us do who have been hurt deeply by those we have loved and sacrificed for. In fact, Bond gains strength from exercising his self-awareness, as well as from the advice he offers Bond-Girl Camille in dealing with the revenge she seeks over the murder of her family. He is also beginning to realize- as some of us have- that many of those who have betrayed us were victims themselves, used by villains through their short-term thinking, blind compassion, or need to belong.

Boldy going where no 007 film- or character- has gone before, this Bond matures, not by taking solace through excessive alcohol, women, or revenge, but by preventing history from repeating itself ever again. In the dramatic final scene of the film, we see Bond-as-master, for he has mastered both his license-to-kill persona and his inner conflict. By turning his tragic experience into a sacrifice for others, he has redefined the role of “hero”, thus saving the next would-be victim from the same fate as his beloved Vesper.

"No great deed is done by falterers who ask for certainty."
- George Eliot, a.k.a. Mary Ann Evans Cross

There is probably not a hero or heroine among us who has not been hurt by someone we love or have sacrificed for. It is also likely that those who have betrayed us, like Vesper did to Bond, were merely duped themselves into their unfortunate behavior by the voices of another, some value-less villain with a selfish agenda. Hopefully, the model set by Daniel Craig’s Bond in Quantum can offer not only solace for the rest of us, but a path through - and ultimately out of - the pain of betrayal. By working through our own challenging situations and inner conflicts - perhaps by seeking to save someone else from something we’ve already gone through, as our maturing Bond did - we can create a similar heroic recovery path for ourselves. - TT 
©2009 Hero School