I am the anti-hero. They used to call me Ajax - a sort of a pun. Take a bunch of archetypal heroes named Jack and stick them together. Affix the appropriate pre-fix, and you're really only left with one thing. They used to write books about me; but even those became a parody after awhile. Mostly because people forgot what a hero looked like. What it felt like to look forward toward heroic deeds being even possible. Now mockeries, parodies, and versions of me roam the landscape, looking for opportunities for miniature integrity. As if character were dispensed in neat little packages.
I am the anti-hero, but you wouldn't know my face. I look much like everyone else; maybe a little worse for the wear, but not due to any particular circumstances. I've seen some things that have turned my hair gray, but for the most part the worst part of the world I've only heard about. Kind of like a second-hand suicide ... or worse yet, a retelling of some dark, spiritual poisoning where the only hope is found in the particular chapter ending. And it's now the accepted, the norm, the natural, the ... expected ... that heroes never really existed. Our heroes are incompetent Greek gods and goddesses who either trade purity for celebrity or excellence for cash flow. And those who never trade down ... we don't hear about them. As if we're trying to outrace our own shadows.
I am the anti-hero ... and I'm no one at all. You've never seen me in the papers - or if you have, you wouldn't recognize me. Sometimes I echo your deepest thoughts on your worst days, but mostly I'm just surviving and fighting the bad fight in a good way. I mean, that's what I was made to do, right? To resemble the remarks you might have made, if you were drunk enough, angry enough, and focused enough to actually tell the truth? I'm the answer you refuse to speak because you're afraid of the repercussions. Because we all really, really need heroes. But we've only the courage for anti-heroes.
I am an anti-hero. And so are you. Let's be heroes.
Let’s trade in their weapons for better ones, made of sturdier stuff.Let’s disregard their philosophies and stand tall on reality; we’ve been convinced that the fight doesn’t matter long enough – let’s rephrase the frame and win the day. Let’s be the knights we long to trust and be the ladies we long to adore.
&nb sp; Let’s create, as if out of thin air, the integrity and character that the world is so desperately seeking. And let’s not give up our childhood dreams of dragons, unicorns, and flight. We were made to fly. Let’s stop acting like we have no wings.
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