I'm Batman

Growing up I always thought Batman was the coolest superhero around, probably because there was nothing "Super" about him.  Batman has no special powers.  He was not born on a distant planet and sent to earth as the last living representative of his people.  He did not become changed because of the bite of a radioactive spider.  Batman is Batman for one reason: he choose to be Batman.  We all know the origin story; young boy watches parents shot dead, commits himself to a life of vigilantism in a corrupt and decaying city, fights against common criminals and a series of maddeningly crazy foes. Batman simply used a combination of family wealth and intense personal dedication to training to forge himself into an elite crime fighter with a key sense of critical thinking and a never quit attitude.  Oh, and he has all those wonderful toys.

I'm not actually Batman.  I do not have a loyal Butler who has stood by my side since I lost my parents as a young boy.  I do not have a massive cave beneath my stately manor which houses my crime fighting tools.  I do have a nemesis, but he's more of a Frank Burns sort of guy than he is the Joker, even if I think he's crazy.  But, could I be Batman?  Could you? 

Standing in the store the other day, waiting in a line, I overheard a young boy say to his father and brother, "I want to be a superhero!"  His father said, "Boy, you ain't got no powers, you can't be a superhero.  You can be a fireman, they save people lives."  Now, I probably would have let my four year old have the fantasy that he could have been a superhero, after all whimsy plays a big role in creative thought, but I was really struck by the Dad's implication.  You may not be able to be a superhero in the sense of having supernatural powers but you can become a hero by saving lives.  I loved the fact that the example he gave first was "You can be a fireman."  That is what the general public, standing in a Game Stop, waiting to trade in a used video game thinks, "If you want to try and be a superhero, be a firefighter."  I didn't have on anything that indicated that I was a firefighter, so it's not even that the man thought "Hey, I'll give that "guy a compliment."  His first, primal reaction to trying to tell his young son how to become a hero was, "You can be a fireman."

So, what's it going to be?  Are you going to try and be Batman, or are you going to be Frank Burns?

Frank Burns was the Major on M*A*S*H (the TV Series not the movie) who was always trying to foil Trapper and Hawkeye's fun.  He was all about sticking to the rules, no matter how stupid they seemed in the middle of a War Zone, not because he believed in the importance of the rules but because he didn't want to get in trouble.  Trapper and Hawkeye would do all kinds of crazy things like wearing Hawaiian Shirts and Bathrobes or building a still  in their tent,  but they would also break the rules and go out in a jeep to save someone when everyone else had given up on them.  Most importantly they were the best surgeons in the camp.  Whether it was Col Blake or Col Potter running the 4077 Trapper and Hawkeye got away with their hi-jinks because they were the best.

So, are you going to be Frank Burns, making sure that you cover your own rear first and foremost?  Nobody ever looked at their kid and said, "You know if you try really hard you could be like that Frank Burns guy."

Or, are you going to do everything in your power to live up to that idea that we are (in the eyes of the public) the closest thing to superheros out there.  I'm not a superhero.  I am a man who spends a lot of hours committed to learning, physical training, and preparing myself to perform at MY peak on the fireground.  There are certainly stronger weightlifters, faster runners, better Truckies, and better writers out there, but I am committed to being better than I was before.