WHY IS WEAKNESS WORTH IT IN A CULTURE OF STRENGTH?

Superheroes, Technology, and Spirituality

We Edit Out Weakness

Social media platforms undergird this Facebook edits newsfeeds and personal pages

according to likes and comments We post the best of our lives on social media

to give a false image of how we actually live Our cultural heroes are ones who project

success and strength Movie/TV stars, sports personalities, musical

artists, Wall Street wiz-kids

Superheroes embrace Weakness

Often a superhero’s weakness is present alongside their strength Iron Man Charles Xavier Yoda Black Widow

Iron Man

Billionaire industrialist captured and almost killed by terrorists

A heart disability leads to superhero tech and “terrible privilege” The realization that

the heroic can emerge from the terrible

Professor Charles Xavier

Charles Xavier’s mobility vs. telepathic ability In the 90’s cartoon

and most recent film his mobility and telepathy are linked

A professor’s desires vs. his destiny Xavier had to

relinquish his mobility to step into his telepathic ability

Yoda

A “foolish Muppet” with syntax issues - and a cane - squats in a backwater swamp

Later revealed to be a great warrior and Jedi Master

The Foolishness and Hope of Weakness

Both Yoda and Professor Xavier are “foolish” characters. Considered weak and incapable they actually disguise great power and strength

Their inner reality is bound up in the spiritual idea of hope, or “confident expectation of the future” Broken Charles vs. Aged Charles

Suffering, Perseverance, Character, Hope Yoda’s hope in the Son of Skywalker

Foolishness and Hope are the DNA of my own story

Aaron’s Story

Born ten weeks premature and expected to die

Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy

Spent most of the early years in hospitals fighting for life

Almost died in the hospital as a teen

Had a dream to work on Capitol Hill and pursued it.

FENX Rising

Tricycle vs. Motorcycle accident in college

A need for greater speed and protection births a new idea – The FENX project

A custom, experimental handicap scooter inspired by aeronautics, Tron, Star Wars, and X-Men.

Black Widow

Former KGB Assassin On SHIELD’s radar in

a “bad way” SHIELD – Hawkeye -

saw potential and recruited her rather than kill.

Agent of SHIELD Uses the weakness of

her past to propel her desire for redemption and to wipe out the “red in her ledger”

Jennie’s Story

A struggle with an eating disorder and subsequent substance abuse led to intense rehab

In rehab, she found Hope and it turned her life around because Someone saw potential in her

Last year she finished law school and passed the NY bar.

Redeeming the Red Ledger(s)

Black Widow’s arc in the Marvel films involve seeking out redemption, coming to grips with a dark past, and embracing a willingness to make such weakness public.

Jennie has trod a similar road of redemption, found in a spiritual focus, and embraces a less than sterling past to publicly inspire others who may walk a similar path.

Just as Widow’s past qualifies her to both defend the world and speak honestly before Congress, Jennie’s story of weakness, brokenness, and perseverance enables her to speak honestly to others who see their own weakness as something negative.

Why embrace Weakness?

Authenticity/Honesty Authenticity is courageous and contagious

Community Creating safe space for people to be

themselves Leadership

“Going First” – paving the way for others to share and be who they are

Innovation Weakness cultivates necessity and births

innovation