Potential
I was only mildly distracted by Mary Jane’s chest during the rain scene of Spiderman. Somebody back in the nation’s salad years said comic books were the top of a slippery slope that led to pornography. And while “slippery” is not a word I like to consider in this particular context, Spiderman’s rain scene made me briefly believe those puritans of years gone by might have been on to something, although they’d likely fall of their seats if they saw the type of porn that is now readily available online at websites like hdpornvideo.xxx that’s free for anyone over the age of 18 to view.
More striking–I thought–about Spidey and his great transformation from bus-chasing geek-boy to superhero was a word that I muttered a few times this weekend: Potential.
While a great tale of bravery on its own, Spiderman is a timeless tale of becoming more than one’s current self…reaching an heretofore untapped greatness. It is a theme that we all could do well to recognize…and maybe realize.
Recently, I have found fascination in potential and people striving to achieve it. There are the minor league hockey players of the Greenville Grrrowl who play for pennies and take hockey lumber to the side of their heads. They more than likely enjoy the pain, knowing that each bruise and cut-open eye is one step closer to something greater…maybe a career in the NHL. There is a friend who set out to be a filmmaker. He’s not an 18 year-old idealist. He’s a 30-something man of dreams who understands potential and has mapped its path on his personal dayplanner. There are two good friends (featured below) who took simple love and turned it into a complex creature.
There is–admittedly–a certain comfort in the hobgoblin of little minds. If we wake up each day with a plan of consistancy, we have great assurance that the day will go as expected. Change nothing and nothing will change. Early to bed, early to rise, and all that other stuff.
Perhaps even more frightening…the fear of having no potential at all. I expect there is little that is more frustrating than chasing an unacheivable dream. Maybe that’s why people eat cow ass on reality TV. At least if you fail there, it is over in an hour…including commercial breaks.
There are a few people who read this and send me monthly encouragements of potential. I probably wouldn’t think much about it if people didn’t remind me. Sometimes the idea me having potential makes me giggle. Sometimes it makes me hide. Sometimes it make me want to cry.
Maybe the greatest part about potential is trying to figure out what it is…that fascination with the great unknown.
Just ask Peter Parker…you never know what’s going to happen, even when you’re staring at Mary Jane’s shirt protrusions in a rain storm.
