Power is Quiet

As a child of 1979, or "Xennial" if you will, I grew up with the voice of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots in the Transformers cartoon franchise. It was by far my favorite show as a kid, and I selfishly turned my own boys onto it when I bought the entire series on Blu-ray. They were likely to run into it, and him, anyway (I tell myself). The live action franchise shows no sign of abating and there is a robust catalog of spinoffs on Netflix and other streamers in animated form.

Lately there's been a recording of a video going around from TFCon posted in 2018, where Peter describes how he found the voice of the animated hero. He tells the story through the lens of his relationship with his late brother Larry. As the story goes, he was going to an audition as a voice actor and his brother showed interest in his career. Peter said, "I'm going to audition for the part of a truck. But he's a hero truck, Larry." His brother became very serious and said, "Peter, if you're going to be a hero, be a real hero. Be strong enough to be gentle."

"Be strong enough to be gentle."

Let's pause for a sec and focus a little on Larry Cullen:

H.L. Cullen, known by those close to him as "Larry", raised in Montreal and attended McGill University. Though raised in Canada and a self-described devout Canadian, Larry was a dual citizen and decided to enlist in the US Marine Corps. He saw action in Vietnam as an infantry officer from 1965-1968. We'll get into his professional accolades in a little bit, but keep in mind that he served in one of the bloodiest American conflicts in history during a time when it went from popular to decidedly un-popular.

He was a natural athlete. He loved multiple sports (among them: boxing, football, and rugby). In addition to his physicality and military service, he was also a commercial pilot. He was a carpenter and a cabinet maker; he worked on sets as a grip in Hollywood productions. We can comfortable say he knew the value of a hard day's work, how to sweat, and how to get his hands dirty.

But there's another side of the man behind the man. He taught English, he was a stockbroker, and he did a little work in front of the camera, working his way up to Producer. In his later years he became a computer programmer.

Read the last three paragraphs again. The first two very clearly make an argument for masculinity and power. Qualities of heroism, bravery, and strength are woven through all of it. The third paragraph abandons the muscles and works on the other core qualities of leadership and power, that of the brain and the emotions. Larry was as much a thinker as a doer.

And he lived a life.

For his exceptional service to his country, Larry was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat V, 2 Purple Hearts with Gold Stars, and the Combat Action Ribbon for his bravery.

Here's a quick breakdown for the uninitiated:

• Bronze star with Combat V: The Bronze Star Medal with a bronze "V" device (also known as Combat V or Combat Distinguishing Device) ranks as the fourth-highest military award for bravery. The United States Army introduced the "V" device in 1945 to differentiate between Bronze Star Medals awarded for acts of heroism and those for meritorious service. Worn on decorations, the "V" signifies valor, recognizing individual acts of heroism that exceed the expected standard during direct combat with an enemy of the United States, or against an opposing foreign or armed force, under conditions involving exposure to enemy action and personal danger.
• Purple Heart with Gold Stars: presented to service members who have been wounded or killed as a result of enemy action while serving in the U.S. military. A Purple Heart is a solemn distinction and means a service member has greatly sacrificed themselves, or paid the ultimate price, while in the line of duty. The gold star signifies that the recipient has been awarded the medal more than once.
• Combat Action Ribbon: Awarded to United States sea service members "who have actively participated in ground or surface combat." The ribbon is awarded to members of the Navy and Marine Corps with a rank no higher than captain and colonel, respectively.

This is a man who put himself in harm's way to help and protect others, receiving wounds in the process; more than once. He was an officer, but he was a battlefield officer in the thick of it. Not sitting behind a desk or in a general's tent far from the action.

I hope I've proven his credentials enough to say when he talks about what it means to be a Hero, he's lived it.

If You're Going to be a Hero...

I see my boys and their interactions with their friends in the neighborhood and I hear their stories of happenings on the playground at school when they come home. I commiserate with their struggles, and we try to find little gems of a lesson or insight we can draw from the experience. My youngest has a temper. He's also the youngest of the immediate extended family. He has no first cousins younger than him. This can bring about a buffet of feelings of inadequacy and a general feeling of powerlessness. Not unlike my own situation growing up and I share these feelings with him.

What I want to impress on my two boys is this concept Larry told his brother Peter over 40 years ago. You don't have to scream, attack, and threaten violence to project power. Real power is quiet.

Power is a Shield, not a Sword.

Icons in history and pop culture going back to the ancient times have these qualities:

• Biblical David, a shepherd
• Hector of Troy (it's worth noting that though Achilles was brash and arrogant, it was the death of "gentle" Patroklos that crushed him and made him pull out his hair)
• Greece's Perseus
• Roland, gentle knight, beauty of youth
• King Arthur, Knights of the Round table
• Dr John Watson (similar to Achilles, the presence and demeanor of the good doctor keep Sherlock Holmes from destroying himself in some interpretations of Conan Doyle's saga)
• Superman and Captain America from comic books

Strong Enough to be Gentle

Gentleness is often associated with weakness or passivity. Gentleness requires great control, active connection, and intense calm. Lack of control devolves us into feral animals. It's always more difficult to build than it is to destroy. That takes strength. That takes power.

Of all the great villains in history, they usually suffer from a lack of gentle, a lack of powerful examples. Of all the great villains in popular culture, all of them have one great thing in common: trauma.

Back to Peter Cullen

Iconography and stories of virtue infect the minds of the human species. Stories make us who we are. It's the stories we tell the next generation that will ultimately reflect the world they build for themselves. Peter Cullen was a kid going out for an audition to play a truck in a cartoon. He could have made his hero truck anybody. Instead, he thought of his prime (pardon the pun) archetype for heroism: his brother. His brother told him:

"Don't be a Hollywood hero, be strong enough to be gentle."

To distill this down even further:

Don't perform. Protect.

The irony that a red cartoon truck would have such a legacy, simply reinforces the impact that small things have on the world. Small things like taking a moment to think before you speak and to use your power to protect, rather than to destroy.

If you have to tell someone how powerful you are, you have no power.