I once taught a section of Critical Thinking Seminar for first-year students. For a few years, I included a unit on superheroes. I thought this might be a way to engage more students, particularly young men, who were following the new (at the time) movies that featured Marvel and DC Comics characters. We read essays on topics such as why Superman might choose to protect humans rather than either enjoy life or just rule the world. We had some good class discussions, and I was encouraged by many of the written assignments.
As we wrapped up the week, I suggested that by earning a college degree, they would be among only a small percentage (now about 7%) of people on the planet who had done so. In a sense, a college degree is like a superpower. A person may choose to use it selfishly or use it to benefit others. In truth, we each have abilities that others might not have, and it is our responsibility to decide how to use them. Spiderman learned that “with great power comes great responsibility.” I simply tried to point out that our stories are much the same as his – minus the radioactive spider bite.
Those who follow superheroes know that none of them are invincible. The most famous example is Superman’s vulnerability to Kryptonite. Not only does this kind of weakness make for good story lines, but it also mirrors much of life. People can be vulnerable to many things: alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, money, power, possessions, procrastination, garnering attention, toxic relationships, willful ignorance – the list goes on. These have brought many people to ruin – by diminishing the good in them while magnifying the bad.
Our personal “kryptonite” can be anything that weakens our ability to be the best we can be. We can even be deluded into thinking that we can be our best only after we have “enough” of our kryptonite! Like Superman under the influence of red kryptonite, our perceptions of ourselves and others can become warped, causing us to behave deplorably.
Also, like Superman, we all fight a never-ending battle. That battle extends far beyond “truth, justice, and the American way.” We must fight against selfishness – the misguided effort to prove ourselves right while the other fellow is wrong, the desire to seek confirmation for our biases and prejudices, the notion that we are somehow better than others and therefore the rules don’t apply to us, the willingness to let others charm us with flattery or control us with ginned-up fear.
There is no greater kryptonite than selfishness. While “the love of money is the root of all evil,” it is selfishness that creates this kind of love. Superman realized that protecting and defending the people of Earth was his highest calling, not becoming rich, famous, or in charge. It seems to me a personal “brand” is not worth much if it’s based on selfishness. Even as kryptonite could turn the Man of Steel into putty, so could succumbing to self-interest.
Our most important battles lie within. Possibly the deadliest kryptonite of all is already inside us, always ready to undermine our resolve to improve, to compromise our ideals, to render us indifferent to the needs of others. Indeed, the hero in us must learn to identify our kryptonite and avoid it, or at least deal with it. We can’t make a better world if we allow our kryptonite to destroy us.
MurrayWorks 