Remember the Wonder twins? They were my favorite part of the Superfriends cartoon on Saturday mornings...that is until the new, new Superfriends showed up and made the show politically correct. Apache Chief could say a magic word and grow to 50 ft tall. Black Vulcan could make lightning bolts into handcuffs and spears. Samurai could turn invisible and turn into a tornado. Cool stuff...which got me to thinking...
Do you think that Superman was ever jealous of Aquaman? Now bear with me for a minute...
Sure it's cool to be invulnerable, super-strong, fast, and able to fly...but what good does all that do underwater? I mean, superman has heat-vision, but Aquaman can talk to fish...and not just fish, but ANY underwater creatures. Yeah, yeah...I know the grass is always greener... And common sense would tell us that Aquaman was somewhat jealous of Superman...but why couldn't it be the other way around? It makes sense to me.
You see, I'm finding myself in a similar situation. I'm not really convinced that I'm living the life of the person I want to be. I may be acting like superman, but I long to be Aquaman. I want to be able to let go of the labels and limits that I've worked for years to place on myself and somehow come to default too. I have the ability inside of me, I just always remember to use it in hindsight... after I've gone the other direction. And it's not necessarily that my choices are bad or good...they just aren't always the ones I really want to make and when push comes to shove, I tend to sacrifice myself for the greater good. I stand in front of the bullets to protect those I care about. I stand up to injustice for those who work for me. I subconsciously process decisions based on what I believe others want or need for me to do, and I act for the greater good. And once again I find myself drowning in a sea of my own making. A superman in all the ways that matter to the world around me...even those which leave me ineffective and insincere underwater.
I wish I were Aquaman....but for now, I'm not. So I'll do my best to remember something I heard a long time ago... You don't drown from falling in the water; you drown from staying there.
