Jefferson Pierce has finally had enough! Years ago, he made the agonizing choice to hang up his Super Suit. And now lives a quiet life as the principle of Garfield High School in the South East town of Freeland. Where his much touted manifesto to all students becomes:
"It's your life! Live it to the fullest! And by any means necessary!"
When racist tensions once again return and invade his city from multiple angles, (including the shooting death of one of his female students) he decides it's his destiny to dust off and don the suit that concentrates all of his Super Powers, as he transforms back into BLACK LIGHTNING!
Jefferson has just fielded the police call informing him of this needless tragedy.
Jefferson Pierce: (Black Lightning... from his home office): Daniel, what's up?!
Daniel: (Officer) Jeff, umm.....I didn't want you to hear it from the news. Luanda (his former student) is dead. Just got the call a few minutes ago. (Several beats) I'm sorry.............
Close in on Jefferson's blank stare .......... As he slowly and incredulously hangs up the phone.
Jefferson: (several minutes later, watching the horrific TV news footage of Luanda's dead body being loaded into an ambulance) What good did it do Lynne!! She was my student! (starting to pace) I had a fantasy. That when they leave me, their lives are better! That they could transcend this neighborhood.....this city...this world! Yeah....I saved more lives as the Principle of Garfield High than I ever did as Black Lightning!!
Lynn: (his ex-wife and renewed neurosurgeon): It's true.....
Jefferson: It's a lie!! Luanda is dead!!
Lynn: She is...(very calmly) I know... I know. And....and it hurts. And I understand. And I feel it too.
Jefferson: But I could have saved her! I could have saved so many (lives).
But I've been living a lie.
Living in the hopes that you and me...(voice trails off) and the girls (their two girls) could somehow live behind a white picket fence. A normal life! I'm not normal!! Never have been! Never will be!
Lynn: Jeff, listen to me, this is the addiction talking....
Jefferson: (with rage) There is no damn addiction!! (taking time to calm down)
Do you remember what you said? When we discovered my (super) powers?
You said it was a gift....a blessing from God. It's still a gift. It's still a blessing from God. And I intend to use it. And NOT just for the girls. But for all the other people out there who need me!
FROM DC COMICS AND THE CW'S: BLACK LIGHTNING
Just as Jefferson Pierce was faced with the challenging decision on the manner in which to live out his own life, so are we all given the choice of how to spend each and every precious moment of our existence. Right?! As Hellen Keller said, "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all."
I talk a great deal about the bevy of ways in which to live your life through Super Heroic means. For although this world is currently facing a battalion of 'close to apocalyptic' worthy challenges, I ardently believe that the ANSWERS to these adversities are lying within each and every one of us! That's right! Perhaps that is either Amazon-Alexa inclined music to your ears, or a cause for heart palpitations from the understandable pressure! ;0) Stay with me... It's all gonna be OK!
Similar in vein to Black Lightning, the four decade seminal superhero Rocky Balboa is as perfect an example as one can muster towards a life filled with Super Heroism. The extraordinary appeal of the Rocky movie franchise continues to inspire a "largesse legion of fans" even after the first film's initial release way back in 1976. It's largely due to their innate ability in using the boxing ring as a metaphor to "the hard knocks of life" that is a grand foundational template of The Superhero's Journey. Rocky's path is very much the same as our own. Full of exasperating highs and devastating blows that often knock are asses back to the proverbial mat time and time again!
His path personifies the motivating message: it is NOT how many times you get knocked down, but rather how many times that you "get back up!" Because one of the key characteristics of Super Heroic Success is perseverance. As world renown ferocity expert and best selling author Steven Kotler says, "The ass kickings life gives you never stop!' PREACH!
The opponents Rocky faces in the ring are direct metaphors for all the mountains we must face and climb in our own lives. One step, one punch, one round at a time! Always remember you are MUCH greater than any obstacle or situation life "throws at you." And what would it look like to transcend whatever challenge that currently stands before you as no thing less than a Soul Sent opportunity to learn, grow, and evolve into the next "Grandest Vision of YOU!" Because that is EXACTLY all that monster of a mountain in front of you truly represents. It is an opportunity for you to be further strengthened and forged in an area that still requires healing and inner growth, leading us towards a soul filled expansion so that we have the fortitude to complete our earthly mission!
May these words offer you remembrance to transcend your life's greatest mountains into MOMENTOUS MAGIC!
While there is absolutely no denying this experience called life is 'Chock Full O' Pain,'I think my favorite acronym for this feeling comes from the fabulous spiritual teacher Iyanla Vanzant. She says that pain means : PAY ATTENTION INWARD NOW! BOOM! Couldn't have said it better myself, so I won't! ;0)
Pain is both a powerful and perfect Professor! And yet, most of us ignore our pain. And try and numb it with a pastiche of outer "quick hits of pleasure" such as drugs, alcohol, and materialistic pleasures. Numbing our pain also stunts our self growth. And leaves so many life lessons spread out all over the table waiting to be addressed like overdue bills. We know all to well what the consequences of not addressing unpaid bills becomes. A total nightmare that crushes our fiscal health. The same thing holds true when we resist our physical and emotional pain. For what we resist will ALWAYS persist, and what we are courageous enough to engage will melt away. Once we have learned what it came to teach us!
We are all SUPER HEROES. All you New Age Nerds know that tune ever so fondly by now! Ever so strong and built to withstand all sorts of PAIN! That's why we all chose to come here at this time. For this dense realm will never stop giving you the most elaborately grand and complex challenges our Universe is capable of providing. The ass kickings keep coming! And Thank The Grand Creator they do. Because we KNOW that the bigger our life's challenges, the greater the opportunity we have to forge an even greater version of our Super Heroic Higher Self! We even get a few extra credit super heroic God filled nods along the way. One for every occasion! I mean, who doesn't like to rock their hard fought and earned super hero cape down every "red carpet" of their experiences?! ;0)
As one of my all time favorite, real life ( fingers in ears - la la la...la la la.... I can't hear your epithets ) Super Heroes, Deadpool learned from his personal trainer Rocky Balboa........
"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows Deadpool. It can be a very mean and nasty place. And I don't care how tough you are; it will bring you to your knees. And keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. Cause that's how winning is done!
Your unique pain points contain the map towards a one of a kind set of Super Powers only you possess. And trying to find and unleash them out into the world without sitting through a few classes taught by "Professor Pain" is simply futile. Remember, your pain points are filled with unlimited possibility! For they came to teach you, develop certain super skill sets, and allow you to become the grandest version of yourself! The one now needed in order to find and fulfill your unique life's CALLING! The one that ONLY YOU can bring to fruition. The one that you promised to make manifest for both yourself and the betterment of saving/changing the whole World! Again, no pressure! ;0)
What would it look like to start paying closer attention to your own pain points? Just as Jefferson Pierce (Black Lightning) was forced to do. Rather than shrugging them off for a "rainy day." Think of it this way. The quicker you address and heal your pain points, the faster you will re-discover your set of Super Powers. And who doesn't want to be in control of the vast arrays in which you can live a Super Heroic life! Cause that's when life truly becomes one giant EPIC ADVENTURE!
And as one of my THREE TENETS OF BEING SUPER HEROIC TOUTS (INSPIRE)-----
LOVE----- SERVE ----- INSPIRE
Here is a poem I wrote to hopefully INSPIRE anyone still searching for their reason and a manner in which to BE SUPER HEROIC:
Day by day is the way they say to live....
One step at a time
Until the mind's music...
Find's its rhythm and rhyme.....
Pull yourself up from your bootstraps.....
But what if your straps are no longer there...
Worn down from the disillusioned moments...
That often causes one not to care....
Every mirror shows me a reflection....
I often wish not to see...
For it causes me to face my TRUTH....
And my Soul's inner reality....
If I'm meant to be a guide...
A Steward of Remembrance toward other's paths
Then why does it now often seem...
That perhaps in another role I should have been cast....
A mountain stands before me....
One I am reticent to climb....
For I know the pain its crevices will find....
Deep within my Soul's fragile shine.....
But there are ethereal signs...
That this Journey will lead toward salvation..
That give me Hope and Strength....
To stay the treacherous course despite outward temptation....
So I daily forge ahead....progress top of mind....
Although setbacks do befall me.....
I simply pass them by.....
For my heart's goal is to be set free...
At times I am completely amazed...
As I find a trove of treasures along the way....
Gifts sent from Heaven...
That ease my core confusion and curb the constant sway...
The path toward peace and joy...
Still lies far above....which is completely fine
For a winged angel appears to remind me...
The gift toward eternal Glory is NOT a straight line....
It takes more than courage to forge through our Truth...
Thus Faith was created by His Heavenly touch.....
To be used as a staff of pure conviction..
When the burden seems to be just too much...
Silent whispers can be heard all around....
So many spirit guides wishing to aide...
For a CALLING I have yet to fulfill...
The very reason that I was made......
To give up now would be a blow to a Universal plan....
Which is to create and fill this world with LOVE and Light....
So the darkness about to overcome us...
Could not do so without a Heavenly fight....
I write a promise in the rocks as I continue to climb...
That no matter the circumstances that may cause me to frown....
Continuing to fight through the forces of my internal darkness...
Is my Hero's Journey, and my Soul Tribe I will never let down....
by Jeffrey Louis Martinez
BE SUPER HEROIC
BE LOVE - SERVE ALL - INSPIRE ALWAYS
Nerdmaste,
JLM
JLM
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