"Hero"

People spend too much time in fantasy worlds where good and evil are clearly defined.  Fake sword fights on computer screens won't save the world.  Life isn't like that.  The knight on the white horse isn't coming to save you.  You have to save yourself.  Make your own life.

Sometimes I think I'm too stern about these things?  I've been disappointed too many times at the non-appearance of the white knight, and yet, some part of me still hopes Disney movies can be made real where good is rewarded, evil is defeated, mice do housework, and deer and bunnies play together in a meadow full of flowers.

Maybe I'm stern because I've been the boss?  Check your personal accounts after you've done your duties.  We've got deadlines.  Hop to it!  (Yeah, that doesn't work.)  Maybe I'm feeling stern because I don't have a boss telling me to hop to it?  I absolutely check my personal accounts before digging into work projects.

This Xandaria image is something I did for Mensa's membership renewal campaign.  It wasn't my concept but I like the idea of imagining yourself conquering the Netherrealm while stuck in the office.  I think my I Spy paintings are messing with my illustration efficiency though.  I got entirely too caught up making office things.  Who cares about the briefcase under the desk?!

Messing with details is my own problem except there are 2 more illustrations to do for this campaign and they have to be in the same style.  Oops.  Next time I'm going to do something simple and graphic.

I guess all of this plays into why I try to be vigilant about fantasy and time wasting.  I'm guilty of it.  The other night I wasted time watching stupid TV and thought about the masters of the past who had to get their work done while the sun was shining.  People who had to paint their fruit before it rotted instead of looking up reference online.  People who read books by candlelight because that's the only thing to do for entertainment in the evening besides darning socks.

As I continued to waste time, I got a mental pictures of French artists drinking coffee at cafes and drinking absinthe at the Folies Bergere.  Slackers!  Or, maybe all that slacking is important to the creative process?  Or plain justification?  Whatever.  If they had the internet they'd use it too.

I have all sorts of other thoughts about heroes, most of them heavy and critical.  My first effort at this post was about people living in Nazi Germany.  My second effort was self-flagellation about the times I was a hero and risked significant injury.  Sometimes I don't want to live inside my own brain, and I don't need to spread that around.

We need entertainment and escape.  Someone should remind me of that next time I'm lecturing about time wasting.  I'm not the boss anymore.  Do whatever makes you happy :)

"Heroic"

Neville Longbottom won the house championship for Gryffindor at Hogwarts.  He was a clumsy, pudgy, forgetful, unlikely hero, but he was willing to fight his friends to do what was right.

"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."

Sometimes I think Harry Potter was a stupid, arrogant child to think he could save the world.  But he was destined to be the hero, which makes me angry at destiny playing with people's insignificant, little lives.  Perhaps I identify a little too strongly with Harry?  However, we need Nevilles.  The US really needs Republican Nevilles right now.

We also clearly need Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Keith Olbermann, John Oliver, Rachel Maddow, Stephen Colbert, moms fighting for kids' education and school lunches,  old people with hiking sticks, scientists with pocket protectors, and people with pussy hats.  They are all heroes, yet we also need people on the other side of the fight to be heroes too because with all branches of the US government in the hands of one party, these are the people who can best stand up to the current insanity.

Most Americans agree on major issues.  Dumping sludge in streams is a bad idea.  Kids need to go to school.  Old people and the disabled need social security.  Issue after issue, Americans agree about our major goals.  We can disagree about some specifics, but our goals are mostly the same.

There are Republicans in Congress and on the courts who know that the current fascist moves of the T white house are wrong.  A few have spoken up, but how many others are waiting and fearing on the sidelines without truly representing the people?  How many representatives avoid home town hall meetings because they know the voters are mad and afraid?

I'm asking Republicans to do what's right.  Be informed of what's going on beyond Fox News.  Encourage nonpartisan reviews of illegal, unpatriotic actions.

Do you really want to be remembered for being in Voldemort's party?  Remember, the different Hogwarts houses came together in the end.  Slitheran Severus Snape is remembered in the end as one of the greatest heroes.  I'm not asking you to sing Kumbaya, wear a pussy hat, and agree with Democrats on everything.  Just speak up against insanity.

Bro2 and I lunched and this is his contribution to "heroic".  We didn't vote the same  in the election, but I totally agree with his take on the topic.  We're both engrossed and disgusted with current events.  Let's all of us, on every side of it, speak up and do what we can whether we're Neville, Harry, or Severus.