There’s a scene in “The avengers: Age of Ultron” where the bad guy has installed rockets under a city in some Eastern European country that begins to lift the entire city away from the ground and high into the air. Yeah, sure, I know it’s farfetched, impossible, and defies all we know about physics – but hey, it’s a Marvel movie about superheroes with godlike powers.
While the city is launching into the air, Bruce Banner and the Black Widow are trying to figure out how to not only escape, but to rescue the civilians to safety.
Natasha (the Black Widow) who has fallen in love with Bruce Banner, even when she knows he is “The HULK” and can become a rage-filled beast capable of great destruction, asked Bruce if he is going to turn green. He replies, while looking into her eyes, that he has a compelling reason not to. She softens and tells him she adores him. Natasha then kisses Bruce and pushes him off a cliff. As he falls, she says,
“But I need the other guy.”
The Hulk then emerges from the chasm and carries her to safety.
During normal waking hours, Bruce Banner is a scientist. He is soft, quiet, (comic books would say mild-mannered) and a pacifist.
Once angered, frightened, or otherwise provoked, a huge dose of adrenalin courses through every cell in his body and he grows into an eight-foot tall, green, muscular, immensely powerful, insanely angry monster that cannot be stopped. To prevent this from happening by happenstance, Bruce must keep his emotions under control.
But in this scene, the astrophysicist geek is not who Natasha needs.
She needs the monster.
And he arrived.
A few years ago, Dr. Jordan Peterson said,
“A harmless man is not a good man. A good man is a very, very dangerous man who has that under voluntary control. You should be a monster, an absolute monster, and then you should learn how to control it.”
Miyamoto Musashi was a Samurai Warrior and philosopher who won 62 duels. He wrote “The Book of Five Rings” in 1645, in which he said,
“It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war.”
John Wick is a fictional character in a series of four movies of the same name. The first film introduces Wick as a loving husband who has just suffered the loss of his wife to cancer. We see him as a grieving man, a peaceful man, trying to live his life. A group of Russian gangsters see him filling his car with gas and want to buy the car. He calmly informs them it is not for sale. They enter his house in the middle of the night and rough him up, steal his car, and kill a puppy that was the last gift from his wife.
We are then introduced to who John Wick really is. He was raised and trained as a fighter and killer by the Russians. He is called the boogeyman because he cannot be stopped, and is a man of purpose, of commitment and sheer will. He then commences over the next four movies to fight and kill everyone in his path as he seeks vengeance. He is an expert in a variety of weapons and fighting styles, and deftly cuts through the entire mob. Yet he does this so he can ultimately return to his life of peace and finally grieve.
A Viking saying goes,
“If they Stand Behind you, Protect Them
If they Stand Beside you, Respect Them
If they Stand Against you, Destroy Them”
In the movie, “Shutter Island” the protagonist Teddy Daniels is a US Marshall sent to Shutter Island to find a missing insane asylum inmate. During an interview with the administrator Dr. Naehring regarding access to the patient files, Dr. Naering begins to analyze Daniels.
“Men like you are my specialty. Men of violence.”
Daniels scoffs.
“You misunderstand me. I said you are men of violence. I did not accuse you of being … violent men.”
Daniels’s partner then asks for clarification.
“Since the school yard neither of you has ever walked away from a physical conflict. Not because you enjoyed it, but because retreat was something you never considered as an option.”
Damn, Weeg, you want us all to become violent psychopaths? You want us to become killers and bullies?
NO. NOT AT ALL.
Absolutely NOT.
I believe a good man should be CAPABLE of violence when violence is thrust upon him. I believe a man should be capable of defending his loved ones. I believe a man should be confident and capable enough to pull someone to safety when impending danger approaches.
This is much different from being a bully.
A bully is the worst creature a man could become. He threatens violence to get his way, to win arguments, to coerce others to conform to his will. He often has compatriots who do most of his violent bidding for him, because he verbally abuses them into submission. He seeks the weak, as they are easy prey. Think of the bully in “A Christmas Story” or from “My Bodyguard” (a great movie from the 80s - you should see it).
Bullies fold like napkins when confronted. They crumble like sugar cubes when their target displays confidence. I reference the aforementioned movies.
Bullies use the threat of violence to gain power over people. But they are weak. Many of us have discovered that bullies are the most insecure of all, that they lack personal power. Their threats of violence are their only way of achieving any sense of personal power. Without it, they are weaker than their victims.
In grade school, I smashed my bully - in the classroom. The teacher saw what he was doing. As we left to go to our next class, I intercepted him at the front of the room. Sure, he could’ve destroyed me in an instant, but I wasn’t concerned. I threw him into a chalkboard and hit him about 8 times. They were probably weak punches that tickled him. I stopped and let him leave. I then looked at the teacher and asked if she had anything to add. “Better not be late to your next class” was all she said. That was the end of it, from him and all his friends.
I was free. I “burped the Tupperware lid” and solved a problem. I let my monster out for eleven seconds. The Hulk roared, and then went back to sleep. My senior year of high school, some football player was going after me while I was lifting weights. I think he was drunk. He kept punching my arm. I prepared to let the monster out once again. This guy I smashed in grade school intervened and pulled the dude away from me.
“You don’t want this guy, trust me,” he said. The monster still snored.
There are two kinds of power.
Power over, and power for.
Power over is an evil kind of power. It is coercive, manipulative, violent.
Power for is the kind of power that inspires a man to defend the helpless, protect the weak.
A man should live by honor, even if at high cost.
Confidence and courage are how honor manifests itself in life. They are the impetus for actions emboldened by honor.
Honor requires strength, courage, and capability.
In “Braveheart” William Wallace defied the will of his oppressors. He faced certain death to uphold his honor. He fought, hoping he would win, but knowing he could lose it all. But he lived his honor. He lived it by finding the monster within himself.
In “300” as King Leonidis walked his men to the pass. He was met by men from Arcadia. They expressed surprise that the King brought so few soldiers. The King then asked the professions of a few of the Arcadian men. Potters, sculptors, painters, gardeners. The King then asked his men their profession, to which they replied with war cries. Then he told the Arcadians he brought more soldiers than they did.
The Spartans weren’t brutal, violent barbarians. Yes, they trained in fighting in ways no one else in Greece could have imagined. But they also maintained regular trades. They valued capable men, but men who could also raise families.
The Samurai were the greatest warriors of their period, feared and respected for their expertise in battle strategy, and warfare. But they also studied poetry, painting, flower arranging, sculpting. They were learned, scholarly, yet capable. They sought peace but were prepared for war.
No, I don’t imply you should be a bully.
I suggest you become capable. If you don’t want to learn to fight, great, but be capable if a time should ever come. Do your pushups and sit ups. Practice shadow boxing, even if you suck at it. Do it as if the only reason why is to get into better shape. Do it because being in shape lets you live healthier longer.
But do it.
Be fit.
Be capable.
Become a monster, and control it.
There’s a joke that goes around social media that fat people are harder to kidnap so you should eat cake and pie.
I think fit people are harder to kidnap. Fit people might also one day be forced to prevent someone else from being kidnapped.
May that day never come.
But if that day ever mustered up the sheer unmitigated audacity to attempt to allow such foolishness, meet that day with a grin. Welcome it into your monster arms.
Live like Bruce Banner, keeping your monster under constant conscious control, but ready to let it out when the time is right.
Roar.
Weeg
Joe “Weeg” Weigant is a Board Certified Massage Therapist, Holistic Health Authority, Reiki Master Teacher, Herbalist, Metaphysician, and Empowerment Coach. He combines bodywork, energy work, and coaching to improve quality of life by healing from the outside in and from the inside out.
Weeg sells Nature’s Sunshine Products, Pure Herbs Ltd., doTERRA, and Juice Plus+. Weeg suggests lifestyle changes and provides herbal remedies to his clients so they may build new habits for long life and vibrant health. He teaches Karate and Tai Chi, Reiki Certification, as well as seminars and workshops in metaphysical and spiritual matters. Weeg is available for sessions at Tri State Holistic Wellness by appointment only.
Contact by text 812.568.5356, or Facebook Messenger to set an appointment.
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