Tarzan, Superman and Infinite Capacity

Words seem hard to come by these days for this blog o' mine. For reasons made obvious from my previous post the brain is otherwise preoccupied. I have ideas bouncing around but unifying themes seem to be elusive, the nebulous fog of my brain is leaving me grasping at threads and when I finally manage to grab onto one it doesn't seem to want to come easily. C'est la vie I suppose, life has bigger fish to fry it would seem.

But the other day while driving home from Scott's little soiree of life the Crash Test Dummies Superman Song came on. I admit that when this song first came out back in the early 90's I hated it. Couldn't stand the tone, the mood and the annoying deep voice of the singer. But as has happened often enough, later in life the song entered into a new place with me and I learned to appreciate it. Learned to love the understated mood and I strove to understand what he was singing about in his lilty deep way with haunting harmonies. Cruising along the 103 and trying to wrap my brain around this sublime song I knew I had to write about it at some point.

Tarzan

Wasn't a ladies' man

He'd just come along and scoop 'em up under his arm like that

Quick as a cat

In the jungle

But Clark Kent

Now there was a real gent

He would not be caught sittin' around in no junglescape,

Dumb as an ape

Doing nothing

Superman never made any money

For saving the world from Solomon Grundy

And sometimes I despair the world will never see another man like him

Hey Bob,

Supe had a straight job

Even though he could have smashed through any bank in the United States,

Well he had the strength,

But he would not

Folks said

His family were all dead

Planet crumbled but Superman, he forced himself to carry on,

Forget Krypton,

And keep going

Superman never made any money

For saving the world from Solomon Grundy

And sometimes I despair the world will never see another man like him

Tarzan was king of the jungle and Lord over all the apes

But he could hardly string together four words "I Tarzan, You Jane"

Sometimes when

Supe was stopping crimes

I'll bet that he was tempted to just quit and turn his back on man

Join Tarzan

In the forest

But he

Stayed in the city,

And kept on changing clothes in dirty old phone booths 'til his work was through

And nothing to do

But go on home

Superman never made any money

For saving the world from Solomon Grundy

And sometimes I despair the world will never see another man like him

And sometimes I despair the world will never see another man like him

It seems to me that this is about the struggle to do better when everything else in your life and in the world is telling you to just follow the crowd and don't rock the boat. Hide in your shell and say nothing. The enlightened man versus the common man sort of thing in simple terms. The man of steel representing the person that is altruistic in a real way. Someone that feeds off of a genuine interest in the well being of others, sometimes to their own detriment. Not to say that Tarzan is a bad guy just that he is happiest canoodling Jane and the apes. He'll fight when he has to but he prefers the swinging lifestyle that he has become accustomed to while leaving the ills of the world behind him.

Who can blame him really? The idea that you can retreat into your own sanctuary, leaving the problems of others aside until they actually stop on your door, sounds like a bit of a recipe for blissful ignorance. You and I know what the problem is though, the world stops working when this is the norm. We become desensitized to the horrors out there and find it easier to simply shake our heads and turn away. Case in point: Two weeks ago the students from Parkland were everywhere and today we're talking about whatever else Drumph and his band of idiots have done this week, this day. By sheer volume and quantity, sane is drowned out by the ridiculous and the grotesque. And I haven't heard of a thing from those brave students that simply want to go to school without worrying about getting shot.

This isn't new of course, Hitler and his goosestepping band of fuckheads did a marvellous job of having people accept the unacceptable. We remember the Holocaust and Remembrance Day to tell ourselves that we will not forget or never again, yet it is happening again. Ultra nationalist leaders emerging in Hungary and Poland, right leaning parties making deals with really right leaning parties to grab the reigns of power. Orange idiot pushing us closer to the brink of who knows what. Tarzan might have a good idea with his response but this is precisely why we need more of Superman.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

Edmund Burke

To see the protests that have happened and will continue to happen it fills me with hope. Reaffirming the belief in good people. In response to every douchey thing the powers that be do we have people standing up against it. I believe there is an infinite capacity for love and for hope. Hope for the future, hope for a better tomorrow by standing up today. If it isn't working, tear the mother fucker down and build it again. And be a Superman.

Ciao

D