The Measure of a Hero

“Everyone fails at who they are supposed to be. The measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they succeed at being who they are.” – Frigga

This quote is from Avengers: Endgame. Amongst many others, this was one of the quotes that struck me while watching the movie. I’ve watched it four times and it hits hard every time. It was said by Frigga who is Thor’s mother. Thor had gone back in time with Rocket to get the reality stone when he unexpectedly saw his mother. He was going through a crisis at the time, disillusioned, and thought he had failed at being who he was born to be; the god of thunder who conquers every opposition. He thought himself a failure because he couldn’t stop Thanos from wiping out half of the planet’s population, killing his brother, Loki, in the process. On seeing him, his mother sensed the pain he was dealing with and reminded him that although he had failed at being who he thought he was supposed to be, it was only normal for him to. She told him that his family and people may have placed certain expectations on him but he was under no obligation to live up to it. Rather, his focus should be on identifying who he really is and choosing to live that out every single day, only then will the hero in him find expression.

I hope this doesn’t come across like a movie review because I imagine someone reading this and wondering why a person is writing a movie review in the midst of a pandemic, especially since that movie was released about a year ago.

“Aren’t you supposed to be sobering?”

“Shouldn’t you be doing something more productive with your time?”

“If you would write, at least write on more important topics. There are people out there suffering and dying and you’re writing a movie review.”

“There’s a virus out there and you are twerking on Instagram, don’t you care about what is going on?”

You see, that’s the thing with us humans, we live in a world where people are daily giving us their opinion on how we should live our lives. As easy as it is to ignore them, we subconsciously try to fit into that square that has been set for us. How many people live their lives based on an expectation that has been set for them? We are constantly trying to be somebody who the society thinks we are supposed to be. Striving to live up to an abstract idea of what we think we ought to be thereby veering off our personal hero journey. Everybody’s hero journey may be similar but the specificity in our journey is as different from each other as our fingerprints.

So what if I decide to watch every movie I lay my hands on during this break? I haven’t seen Harry Potter, this is the perfect time to see all of it. Some workaholics didn’t know there was such a thing as rest until this break gave them permission to breath, let them. And if the workaholic decides to continue in his workaholism, best of luck. There are people who have been trying to gain weight, this is the time to eat well and work out. If dancing on Instagram or singing lullabies is how somebody has chosen to pass the time, it is really none of anybody’s business. Everyone is different.

The society says you must be doing something productive during this lockdown. It says you must come out of this pandemic a better person, while that is true, it shouldn’t be at the expense of your inclinations. But because of these commentaries, we have become a people constantly looking sideways at what the next person is doing to see how we can either condemn, if you think they are wasting their time, or match up, if you think you are wasting yours. One of Neymar’s teammates once said that Neymar might not be as good as he currently is if he trained as hard as Cristiano Ronaldo, there’s a truth to that. If you’re a Neymar, why not just be a Neymar and take a chill pill. Working yourself to the ground during a pandemic may not be your forte. Rest when you can and when you should. A workaholic doesn’t try to be a workaholic, he just is. A writer doesn’t try to be a writer, she just is. You will fail at being who people think you are supposed to be, your success is measured against who you truly are. So sit back, relax and reflect on who you are. If you find yourself struggling to stay awake, sleep, the big idea you waited your whole life for may just find you in your sleep. You never know.