8_What all great superheroes have in common- Alex Sheen at [email protected] (1)
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I have a belief,
a belief that I am going to spend next 14 minutes,
trying to convince you
to belief
and that centers around superheroes
and their characteristics.
Now, we all understand what superheroes are right?
As Americans, in fact as humans
were sort of obsessed with the superhero concepts.
When we were kids, we dress up
as superheroes. Right?
And then when we grow older
well.. I guess, things don't change.
That much.
Maybe a little bit.
We obsessed with super heroes
we love their powers, right.
The list is long, superheroes are super human strength
ice manipulation, mind control,
super human speed,
the ability to talk to fish,
no, may be not
But I want to contest this thought
I want to contest the thought
that we love superheroes because of their super powers.
I want to contest this thought
that if there is something else
that pulls us to the story lines
something much more emotional,
and something I guess that is much more every day human.
And there's a single word that defines this,
'promise'
the ability to make and keep
a promise, a commitment.
Now,
there is a Doctor Robin Rosenberg who writes
about the psychology
of the story lines for super heroes.
She has written for 'Psychology today'
******, in this article,
for the Smithsonian magazine, she talked about
the psychology behind the original stories
of superheroes.
And in these 3 different types you see a promise,
let's take the first one for example,
The first type is want of trauma,
how superheroes are made and this is best illustrated
by the story of batman,
which I think many of us are familiar with.
At a young age, Bruce Wayne would witness both of his parents
die, they would both be shot in front of him
and depicted for the first time in 1935
this scene, Bruce Wayne by his bed says,
" I swear by the spirits of my parents, to avenge their deaths,
by spending the rest of my life
warring on all criminals."
His commitment, his promise.
The second type,
sheer chance
the gorgeous story, sheer chance.
Now, you might think of spider-man right?
By sheer chance he has bitten by radio active spider
and get the super abilities,
where super abilities don't define you as a super hero
because if that were true then all villians
would also be super heroes.
What defines you as a super hero is your promise,
a commitment and in this type of sheer chance
you see it,
in a story of Peter Parker, see he used his abilities
as a professional wrestler to make money
that was how he first uses abilities
and he got off stage
once, after a match and there's a robber that passed by him
and he didn't do anything to stop
that robber.
Cop was winded right, right after so why didn't you stop him?
Peter Parker said that's not my job
that's not my responsibility,
the robber would go on to kill Peter Parker's Uncle Ben
Peter realized, what is uncle is trying to teach him
with great powers comes great responsibility
and Peter Parker vowed to fight for good.
A promise.
And a third type, destiny.
Right.
Even in destiny, when it's a chosen one
this is meant to happen
still a promise exists
take Harry Potter for example,
so committed to good that he is willing to give
his own life.
In opposite,
Anikan Skywalkars destined to become the greatest
Jedi in the universe
but he never makes the promise to good,
and he becomes darth vader.
Trauma, sheer chance, destiny
no matter your origin as a superhero
the ability to make and keep a promise
always present.
This is something very strange and I believe
very fortunate
because, the only ability that ties
all superheroes together
the only common ability just so happens
to be the only ability that we can have
as everyday people.
To keep our promises,
everyday people.
April 3rd, 1968
Doctor Martin Luther King Junior
continues his fight
for civil rights in America.
He gives his speech in Memphis Tennessee
He speaks to a promise,
a promise that he actually didn't make
a promise in the constitution has made everyone in this room,
to me
a promise to freedom of speech,
a promise to freedom of assembly.
See, Martin Luther King, he didn't make that promise himself
but he took that promise and he owned it
he took it and he made his own
and that night, he would speak
to the importance of that commitment.
You see,
Martin Luther King Junior was a man of
unwavering commitment.
He received death threats constantly,
1956, his home was bombed,
but a man of unwavering commitment I said,
and so on the night of April 3rd, 1968
Martin Luther King Junior
would give a speech,
and speak to the death threats given to him.
and I have seen the promise land
I may not get there with you.
But I want you to know tonight
that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.
So I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything,
I'm not fearing any man.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
the next day
Martin Luther King Junior
would be assassinated
shot and killed
in his pursuit,
in his commitment,
the ability
to make and keep a promise.
Now you might wander,
why I am so interested
in this thought of a promise,
and I guess like, most people in life
I have dates that I remember.
You see, my father
was someone who was good with his promises,
he was someone who said,
if he is gonna be there
he showed up,
was that simple.
September 4th 2012,
I woke up to watch my father die
he would succumb
to stage for small cell lung cancer,
I was asked to give his eulogy
I chose,
to talk about the importance of a promise and for the first time
I handed out one of these,
it's a piece of paper, are called a promise card
it says, because I said I would,
in the corner, on the front
and nothing else.
Its very easy to use.
What you do is you write a promise,
on the card, a commitment
You give it someone you say, I am gonna fulfill this promise
and when I do, I earn this card back
it belongs to me and I will earn it back.
You go, you fulfill your promise,
you earn your card back and you keep it
as a reminder, that you are a person of your word,
may be someone like a superhero
or Doctor King,
or my dad.
They don't have to be big promises,
they can be small
a promise to care about others,
a promise not to text or Facebook while driving
little things,
or maybe it's a teenage girl's promise
to sit and make friends with the kids
who sit alone at lunch
because near her school
two teens committed suicide,
one of them known to be
because of bullying.
Her promise to just make friends
to bring a smile to someone's face.
Or maybe it's a promise,
from a 44 year old man,
diagnosed with cancer 3 times,
afraid that if he dies,
there will be no napkin note in his daughter's lunch,
so he does a calculation
the number of days a class his daughter, Emma
has until she graduates from high school.
A commitment to write
eight hundred and twenty-six napkin notes,
so that even if he goes, that napkin would still be there.
My name is Alex Sheen and I am the founder of
'because I said I would.'
I make promises,
I distribute these cards
I wanna live a life of commitment
and so each year,
I make a new year's promise
I did this in 2013
I am doing it now in 2014, in 2013 I wrote
52 separate promise cards.
And in each week I'll put it in a hat
I randomly select a card out of the hat,
I have one week, to fulfill that commitment
they are not big things, they're little
may be like donating blood,
for the first time
or something just to bring a smile to my grandma's face,
to teach her how to Skype,
cos, she has no clue
don't show pictures please, I hate, I have to show the picture I am sorry.
I never promised that I wouldn't show that video.
or maybe it's a promise to just a learn a little something,
how to say thank you,
in 20 different languages.
Grazie, Gracias, Dankon, Khob khun
Arigato, Gomapseumnida, Salamat you get the idea,
right.
Little promises, things you say you gonna do.
'Because I said I would' is a social movement,
a non profit organization, dedicated to the betterment of humanity,
to the importance of a promise.
I believe that this is how we change the world,
our own commitments,
what are we gonna do.
But you see those promises were 2013
In 2014, I want to make commitments that are closer to the core
of our mission to better humanity
and so I made a commitment
a commitment in 2014 that I would volunteer
at different non-profit organization
every week for 52 weeks.
One card for each week
and I am currently on that journey.
You see, when you go and you help people
you find new experiences in life,
it's very rewarding.
I had the opportunity 2 days ago,
to
deliver valentines day gifts
to kids with cancer
in a hospital
cos they were alone in that room
with just no families, no friends.
They want their holiday just like you want it.
And in that experience randomly
finding
base camp childhood cancer foundation
I was co-incidentally invited to the opening
of Talia's room
The name Talia may sound familiar, this is
a honorary cover girl,
a girl with cancer who is on the DeGeneres show
and they opened a room in her honor
at base camp.
I got to meet Talia's mother,
Talia's sister,
and express my condolences
for their loss.
Sometimes it's not so
I don't know
rewarding I don't know what the word is, sometimes you're just in a
warehouse, packing up socks and boots
for homeless cos it's gonna be
negative 10 degrees outside in Cleveland where I live
or may be its something you don't
necessarily want to do the act but you want to make sure its done.
Maybe it's
going to your local animal shelter
and cleaning up some cat poop, a couple hours
getting attacked
They're not very appreciative.
Let's face it,
I am never gonna be a super hero.
I can never lift ten thousand pounds,
I'm in my twenties, and I already have arthritis in my back,
okay.
I may never become
someone like Doctor Martin Luther King Junior
and the greatness that he achieved
in battling the injustice,
that played our country in the 60s.
But you know what I can do
I keep a promise.
I can do that.
And so can you.
Thank you.