Superman, of course. The X-Men (Wolverine specifically). Even “Gizmo-Duck” was inspiring. These days I might even add BT Roberts, or NT Wright…or someone else with letters as a name. For whatever reason, I’ve always been a big fan of the hero. Especially if they were “Super” in some way. Whether they had the power to swoop in at the last moment and save the day, or simply existed in a way that somehow always worked out for them and finished on top, I wanted to be in their club. Even in college, I had several friends who loved the comic-book hero thing. One friend in particular, who celebrated “X-Men Comic Book Day” whenever the newest edition arrived in his mailbox (props to Phil).
So when the recent movie “Big Hero 6” finally came out on DVD, I obviously felt a connection to Fred. Fred’s that character who gets to hang out with all the nerdy tech-scientists because he loves the stuff, but has no idea what they’re talking about most of the time. He’s constantly imagining new “out of the box” things, and creating back-stories for the team when they actually do begin acting like Super-Heroes. I’m convinced most of us need a “Fred” in our lives. Someone who we allow close enough to be a part of, and speak into our lives, and yet it’s someone who sees everything from a different vantage point. This can help us be accountable in ways we might not otherwise recognize, and it also allows for imaginative “leaps” that our neuro-pathways wouldn’t normally jump to. Spouses (mine wife, in particular) are pretty great for this. You might even say it’s a Biblical concept (Psalm 27:17).
Not to mention, he’s just flat out entertaining. I had to smile when my kids latched on to his character naturally and memorized a song he made up as the team was heading into their first “official” mission as a team of super-heroes. He’s obviously geeked out that all of his dreams are becoming real and wants to make it even cooler in his imagination. Let’s all confess, we’ve had moments like this in our own existence. When you do something you love, and it seems to be working out exactly the way you’d planned, and you start to imagine yourself as the character in some larger “over-arching” story where this matters even more than you realized…..no?
Well, then just laugh at me and my girls in this video….then go find yourself a Fred, if you don’t already have one. If you do, buy that guy an invisible sandwich today just to let him know how special he is to you…
And of course, if you saw the movie, you realized that Stan Lee is Fred’s dad (even before seeing the clip after the credits). That was pretty cool. Although my kids were obviously confused…”Dad, who’s Stanley?” Someday kids…someday. 🙂
words from wick 