Your Batman Moment

batman moment

“I shall become a bat….” – Bruce Wayne, Detective Comics #27

batman momentThe Dark Knight Rises, the newest Batman film, comes to theaters everywhere in a few days, amid speculation as to whether or not it will be the biggest opening ever for a movie, or simply one of the biggest. There is no doubt that the movie will be huge, and if the previous movies are any indication, it will be a great movie, but the question at the heart of the movie is more fundamental.

What is the movie about? Who is the Batman?

For me, and other geeky fan-boys alike, Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego is the guy we’ve always dreamed of being: cool car, great belt, man-cave, and kick-ass reputation. And that doesn’t even touch on the whole Catwoman thing. But that also begs the question: “Why not Superman, or Spiderman, or any of the multitude of comic heroes?”

Because in theory, any one of us can be Batman. But mostly we aren’t.


What I mean is that Bruce Wayne was a boy who in one tragic, horrible minute lost everything he ever cared about, right before his eyes. He took that moment and made it a part of him. He used it as the motivation to take his destiny in his own hands and shape it into something no one had ever seen. He used his loss as fuel to push himself to the peak of mental and physical perfection, while not being paranormal or other-worldly.

Nope. No radioactive spider or exploding planet Krypton here. Batman’s only superhuman attribute is will. Sheer, unstoppable human will. In theory, he is something we could all become.

Now, in fairness, we can’t all be Batman. We don’t have a butler to cater to our basic needs while training with the greatest minds the world has to offer. We don’t have the physiology to be a heavyweight boxer or a world-class gymnast. We don’t have a genius-level IQ. Sad to say, none of us have what it takes to fill his tights, so to speak.

What all of us DO have, however, is a moment where we face a decision and have the force of will to see it through. WE have that moment where we see an outcome, no matter how out of reach, and decide to follow through, against any obstacle. This is how we can become a hero. It may be momentary, but it is a moment that defines us.

In that moment of failure, of loss, of pain, we have the clarity to see what we can become, how we can turn around, and be our better selves. How we can be a hero, if only to ourselves. Our Batman Moment.

Lance Armstrong had his Batman Moment. So has Stephen Hawking. Anyone who has had the sheer force of will to overcome an obstacle and reach their goal has had their Batman Moment. It is the reason that this character, more than any other, resonates with us. Batman symbolizes victory against overwhelming odds. It is that better self that we want to believe in.

For me, my Batman Moment came in 2008. One evening I had having trouble breathing and my wife took me to the emergency room. I was suffering from shortness of breath, and was seen immediately. The staff ran tests and while I waited, I juggled my schedule around so that I could take the day off from work. When the doctors returned, I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, hypertension, and diabetes. I also tipped the scale at over 300lbs.

My life changed.

Up to that point, in my mind, I was a guy in good shape that had gained some weight, but was still in the prime of his life. That night I was admitted to the hospital and spent the next week having tests run on me, learning to handle my weight and diabetes, and left to heal. It was both the lowest point of my life and one of my greatest.

I remember sitting in a chair, looking out the hospital window, in tears because I had let myself down. I had been the one who had gained all that weight. I had been the one who had gotten out of shape. I had eaten badly. I had been the one who had failed myself.

My diagnosis was actually been a blessing. I had not suffered a heart attack, there was no significant blockage, and I had suffered no damage to my heart. Under a doctor’s supervision, and with a sensible plan of diet and exercise, I poured my weak-but-undamaged heart into my mission.

Fast forward three years later and I had lost over 120 lbs. and was preparing to run the 7+ miles of “Bay-to-Breakers” for the second time. The first time I finished, but I finished weakly, barely having the wind to jog across the finish line. This year I was in the best shape of my life, and my goal was to finish the race strong and cross the finish line in a sprint.

I flew across the finish line, more than ten minutes faster than the year before.

That year I also learned that long distance runners sometimes use a word or phrase to channel their energy. You can’t run full out all the time in a long race. You have to use your energy wisely. But at the end, when you feel you can’t go on, some trainers recommend that you have a word you can say to yourself to shift into that extra gear. To dig deep and push past the pain, the fatigue, the doubt and move forward. It has to be simple, one sentence or less, and it has to be something you believe in. A Batman Moment.

“I shall become a bat….”

 

 

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