It’s such a great sentence because it’s always true. Each defines the other. Picture a spaceship in, um, space. It can be either the U.S.S. Enterprise or the Millenium Falcon. I mention both because I know there are two kinds of people, and I’m a uniter, not a divider. If you see the ship against an all black background, you won’t perceive any motion. It’s only when the stars come into the picture does that become possible. Without the defining juxtaposition, It’s all as stationary as the orbit of Deep Space Nine or Babylon 5. Of course, the best space stationary is in the eyes of the beholder.
No Dark Side without the Light Side. No Star Wars without a Zardoz. Absolutely no waxing on if there be no waxing off, which is coincidentally the name of the best Fantastic Four story by Stan and Jack. For Odin’s sake, stop arguing about Stan vs. Jack. You don’t get any of it without them both., or no Stan’s on, no Jack’s off.
Let’s face it, being alive can be a tough gig. Sometimes it seems like Dante was a pansy for only playing 9 when the rest of us are having to play all 18 hellholes, but this too shall pass. We’re nerds. We’ve lived through stuff. The Clone Saga, ‘Lectric Superman, Frank Springer on Dazzler…monthly, and we’re still on our collective feet.
Speaking of standing, King Arthur said it best when he gathered the team together around a table to tell them that the whole “might makes right” thing just wasn’t working anymore. Might for right means standing up for those who can’t, for whatever reason. We nerds know this. Fighting for others is the foundation of what we love. It’s in our DNA. Punching Nazis is something we’ve pretty much been training for our whole lives.
It’s time to rise to the occasion. Be kind. If you can’t, be tolerant. It’s time to take everything that Superman taught us and put it to use. Fight for whoever needs it, in whatever small ways that you can, because our heroes aren’t coming to help us.
And that’s okay. We can be the heroes. There may be no group of people better prepared to be than nerds, and maybe the worst of times will bring out the best in us.