For Aurora

In my younger days, I collected comic books.  Well, actually I wasn’t so young…I stopped buying comics about 10 years ago when I realized that diaper and formula purchases took exhausted my comic book fund.  Not all comics were about superheroes, but I preferred those best.  The one hero I followed the most was the Batman.

The Caped Crusader was different from all the other heroes in that he possessed no super powers.  He had determination and drive…and a real dark side.  He was driven to avenge the death of his parents who were brutally killed during a common robbery.  Their death was senseless to him, and he devoted his life not only to fight crime, but to make sense of his parents’ passing.

Today there was a senseless killing in Aurora, Colorado.  Ironically, the cowardly psychotic bastard opened fire in a crowded movie theater showing the latest Batman movie…The Dark Knight Rises.  He killed 12 defenseless people and injured 59 others.  Afterwards, he was calmly arrested and announced to the police that he was The Joker…the name of Batman’s most notorious nemesis.

Sick.

George Takei, aka Mr. Sulu of Star Trek fame had this to say about the event:

Many victims of today’s tragedy were fans of science fiction/fantasy.  They stood in line to be the first to see, to be inspired, and to escape.  As a community of dreamers, we mourn this terrible tragedy and senseless taking of innocent life.

What does all this have to do with melanoma or skin cancer?  Nothing really.  I suppose parallels could be written on senseless loss of life, or of how our fight against melanoma in the name of loved ones mirrors that of Bruce Wayne avenging his parent’s death.  Yet, sometimes you just have to go off script and recognize an event that affects us all. I fight every day for those have passed after fighting their battle against melanoma, but tonight I honor those who had no chance to put up a fight at all.

I still have my old collection in the attic.  I guess that means I’m still a dreamer.  One day I’ll show them to my kids and let them discover the drive and determination of one man against the world.  Maybe they’ll be inspired to take up a cause in their lives…hopefully without the passing of a loved one.  That’s the dream I have now.  Hopefully in a more sane world than we have today.