What I've learned - watching Arrow

What I've learned - watching Arrow. Shēngcún

Let me start with this on exploration of learning what we already know. Understand that my experiences may differ greatly from yours and you may not draw all the same conclusions or have the same opinions. We BOTH have FULL RIGHTS to our potentially different opinions. I also want to point out that even I am not exempt from the rule of sincerity. The rule that says "don't mistake sincerity for accuracy". Don't fall into the trap thinking, this guy really shoots from the heart and is so sincere he MUST be right. I usually am :) but, am as human as the rest of you. Or as my old Pastor would say (he was an uber-brain PhD from Stanford that was well loved) He said "Don't worship me, I'm as screwed up as the rest of you." So,..wrapping the thought up, even the most sincere person can be wrong. However I do usually do plenty of homework on a subject before I say something. And if I'm unsure, I will tell you. Not to mention I will try to keep it in my personal area of expertise - philosophy and perspectives, which is subjective. Which means I said it based on my feelings about my feelings and as far as that goes "I'm right." and that's that... :)- Because your opinions are "yours" but these,...they are "my" opinions.

Now lets move on.

How often do we brainlessly sit down unplug and watch an episode of our favorite program to get our needed fix of syfy/fantasy/etc only to learn not a frigging thing from a story that often millions of dollars are spent to produce (at minimum)!? In the case of Arrow it's said to be 1.2 million per episode! That's a lot to invest for just entertainment. Surely we could squeeze out a lesson or two for ourselves right? Sadly the actors in Hollywood often portray a great and or noble character, go through massive growth and overcome extreme obstacles but seldomly seem to carry over any personal growth transference to their personal lives. Hollywood is usually NOT the best to emulate(!!) but their stories, we can sometimes learn from, even if Hollywood doesn't. So, why don't we? Habits. Bad mindless habits and being too enamored with stars over our own personal growth. Let's address that today!

Now I'm not saying you should turn every episode of Arrow, Flash, etc.. into a Jim Rohn lecture. But, IF you can, Jim Rohn was one of the greats! And I would HIGHLY advise anyone wanting to squeeze a little more (if not a TON) out of life to listen to as much of his lectures as possible! But, that being said, I do understand that sometimes we just need to get away and not think and just enjoy a well made program to unwind. However,.... :) if that is the case, I'd wager...... that it means your life has a few details that need attending to and more learning would likely help. ;) So, what can we learn from the Arrow?

This is one of my favorites. So many real world parallels (in a way). Not like Flash which IS great and I love "Flash"! It's soo bright and hopeful and inspiring. Arrow, that's the real world feel of life walking up to you for no damn reason and stealing your beloved puppy, raising that said puppy, training it to attack, then coming back and ordering your own dog to attack you! And then you are left with how to sort out the emotions without turning into a vigilante for real. Life is like that sometimes.
Life is NOT fair. And we as decent (hopefully) human beings owe it not to just each other but to ourselves to learn to cope with our own pain of life or become the emotional wreck that cruises through life either with a huge chip on our shoulder looking for that next fight, or that next person to fight for - be a hero for, or in some cases leaving humanity and going to our own island of personal purgatory that often leaves us with more scars than we had before going there (as in my case).

So, what is there to learn from episode one? Soo many possibilities but let's keep it simple for now since I can really rant when I'm typing even though my typing sux, I am still an introvert and this area is an introverts play ground so I will try to keep it simple and somewhat brief for now. Later we can perhaps come back and expand on more abstract lessons but for now lets pick some static lines in the show that offer insight if we only try....

Arrow: episode 01 season 01

When Oliver is flashing back to that horrible moment where his dad does the unthinkable and executes/sacrifices himself so that Oliver can live. He delivers a very important message.

Robert: "You can survive this. Make it home. Make it better. Right my wrongs.

             But, you gotta live through this first." 

How apropos. In the big nasty - life; It's the message I would send to you as well for this write up. "You can survive this. Make it home. Make it better. Right my wrongs. But, you gotta live through this first." Only exception is " right your own wrongs! " Not mine! not the next guys!, your's! We each have enough of our own issues that if we truly desire to tackle them it would keep us plenty busy most of our lives. My grandmother on my mom's side used to always say to me, " Always correct your mistakes" It's been soo long since I've heard her say them as she has been gone for a long time now, about a couple of decades but I remember her words.

I haven't always applied them very well but always remembered. Hopefully I'm doing it more better now. She used to add an extra tack on the end but it doesn't apply here and now so I will revisit her words again when they do. Plus, I had another grandmother that had her own country wisdom as well. I'm sure there will be an opportunity to quote her also.

So, why do I so meanly and arrogantly tell you to fix your own problems when there are so many people out there needing rescuing?! Well, because we are each responsible for our own life as adults. Furthermore, we each are the only ones to be able to make a real difference in our lives in that capacity. Life will never stop thowing opposition at us. Be it physical emotional, fists, car wrecks, disease, or mean words. We each are responsible for our own responses to life. We are the gatekeepers each for ourselves!

I am Not a supporter of the welfare state. It makes one dependent/weaker! It also creates a cycle of dependency. What if each person were as focused on fixing their own issues as they are fixing someone else's or having someone else fix their troubles instead of them doing it? The world would not only be much better off but the people as a whole would be personally stronger "for themselves" needing less saving as a whole. That is a liberating feeling! It's also good to see happen! It's inspiring!! It offers lots of hope. The takeaway on that--> Better a hand "UP" than a hand "OUT"!
And that's what is soo appealing about Oliver and his struggle. He gets knocked down and kicked over and over. And yes, he came out with a ton of scars physical and mental/emotional so much so that his character was seriously compromised and all he had was a sick feeling and an urge to try and make sense of the horror circus show that became his life.

But first,......to begin his long path to getting himself back and make sense of it and his new future, he had to live through it first. That's how we can start our adventure in our own life. First choose to live through it. The actual stepping is often easier than the thoughts about stepping . So, to anyone out there feeling like you are in over your head. You may be, but you don't have to stay that way "But, you gotta live through this first". It takes effort and maybe a little determination but, Oliver chose to. So can we all. Choose to live, choose to change, choose to address our own issues and fight for ourselves and the world will need less heroes.

"Why the world doesn't need Superman". Just kidding... :)-

There is always a time for heroes but that is another write up. For now we must save ourselves, fix ourselves, and be an inspiration to those that are secretly watching us.....!

"Everyone thinks of changing the world but no one thinks of changing himself"

Leo Tolstoy

I am Groot - Have a good day, have it all week long...and Shēngcún :)

Max