Columnists
The Wisdom Sticker
I was amused when I read the other day about the wisdom sticker Pope Francis hangs on his office door.
The sign, translated a little roughly from the Italian, reads “NO WHINING.” It goes on to say that “Violators are subject to a syndrome of always feeling like a victim and the consequent reduction of your sense of humour and your capacity to solve problems. The penalty is doubled if the violation takes place in the presence of children. To get the best out of yourself, concentrate on your potential and not on your limitations. Stop complaining and take steps to improve your life.”
I’m impressed that the Pope would put such a folksy message on his door when there are so many inspirational quotes available in the scriptures. At least he didn’t try to quote baseball great Stan Musial, who said “When a pitcher’s throwing a spitball, don’t worry and don’t complain, just hit the dry side like I do.”
Still, a cynic might say—and I must say this was my own first reaction to the Pope’s wisdom sticker—that it’s easier to say these things to other people than to live by that admonition yourself. Especially if you’ve had some experiences—such as childhood abuse, impoverishment, or the trauma of war—that would leave you with every reason to be embitttered. Some people derive their sense of self-worth from their embitterment. Who are we to say that they aren’t justified in doing so?
And then I heard a rebroadcast on the CBC radio program Day 6 of an interview with Mohammed Sayed. Mr. Sayed spent his early childhood in Afghanistan, until his spine was crushed in a bombing and he was taken to hospital by his family—and left there; they never came back for him. He spent seven years in hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries, and at the end of it all was still paralyzed and alone. He made an income for himself by tinkering with cell phones used by staff and patients. And then a nurse from the US befriended him, adopted him, and at age 12 brought him to Boston to receive further treatment and live with her.
Mr. Sayed, who is now 20, didn’t sit still. He noticed a lack of product controlled directly by the wheelchair user and invented his own device to contain a cup holder, tripod and sun canopy, that is 3D printable, magnetized and customizable. His efforts secured him an invitation to the 2015 White House science fair and a meeting with President Obama. He also won a scholarship to a science, technology, engineering and mathematics school founded by the Massachussets Institute of Technology.
And then his mother took him to a comics convention, which opened another new door for him. He noticed the lack of heroes with a disability and of diversity in hero characters. So he decided to create his own superhero; his alter ego, a disabled, Muslim immigrant. “I’m proud to identify myself with those characteristics because this is a true example of saying to the world, ‘You can go through horrible things in your life but you can still move on,'” said Mr. Sayed.
Using his belief that the important thing was to “focus on how to make the future better,” Mr. Sayed teamed up with illustrator Arielle Epstein to produce a comic book hero called Wheelchair Man. Using his wheelchair as a sidekick with powers of its own (the wheelchair can fly and turn invisible, and cannot do anything that damages the world), Wheelchair Man has the power to bring peace to the world and make potential wrongdoers see the consequences of their crimes before they commit them. Mr. Sayed says that traditional superheroes end up destroying the world in order to save it, which sends the wrong message to children. His message is instead focused on peace, challenging the status quo, and the fact that a superhero can be a real person.
The book has been a smash hit. So now being rolled out in a second book is a complete cast of Wheelchair Avengers, including “Wheelchair Woman,” “Wheelchair Boy,” “Wheelchair Girl” and “Captain Afghanistan,” each of whom will take responsibility for making a part of the world a better place.
Which takes us back to the Pope’s wisdom sticker. “No Whining” humorously addresses one of life’s hardest challenges: to move beyond (but not necessarily to forget or fail to learn from) the misfortunes of one’s past and concentrate on building a positive future. Some people may be just too broken to do that; they are nonetheless heroes for having undergone their battles. But those who rise above their adversity— like Mr. Sayed—deserve to be recognized as superheroes.
I hope the Pope has seen a copy of Wheelchair Man—and that he has duly signed up for a copy of volume two, entitled Captain Afghanistan.
For those who tried to follow the link in last week’s column, I apologize. It should have been linked to smithsonianmag.com.
Comments (0)