My Superhero Is Dead

God how I loved Evel Knievel. As a young boy I initially thought he was fictional. Later on I realized he was a real guy who was on the fast track to superhero-dom. I had the jumping toy, watched him on TV, and just felt so inspired by his insanely stupid yet important heroic deeds. Recently I watched a cable biography of the man and realized what a bastard he was in his real life. Nevertheless, I still revere his acts of courage as pure greatness. Even though he failed several times attempting fantastic stunts, his will to get up and try it was staggering. He looked death in the eye over and over during statistically impossible long life and always ended up saying I’ll be back. What a sad thing. I watched some of his jumps on YouTube and cringed after every one. You would think that after his injuries he’d just say forget it I can’t take anymore but instead he would pray every night and ask God for the chance to try again. To stand alone. To do what made himself feel alive.

Sometimes when my mind wanders, I play this game where I imagine that for 1 day, no harm could come to me no matter what I did. I would try to think of the wildest stuff I could do knowing I’d feel no pain and just get up and walk around again. Jumping off buildings, driving off cliffs, standing in front of moving trains, etc. My body would get thrown all over the place but I’d just stand up and find something else to do. I imagine that’s similar to Evel Knievel. To me, thinking those thoughts is simply a creative exercise. Learning to keep my mind open to any thought and exploring my imagination. I think Evel helped give me that. I use it every day with my work and in that setting, I try my best to have no fear. Any idea can work. It just takes someone willing to dream and stand behind it.