Are You Iron Man or Thor?

[jackwabbit]

I got this in an email from my Twitter friend @johnanealio the other night, and I didn't delete it because I quite liked it. John is one of my favorite tweeple, and his lively geek songs are true joys. But like all of us, sometimes he struggles with his creativity, and this little piece might help when you are struggling with yours, so I'm passing it on. Hope you find some inspiration!

Have you seen the Avengers movie yet?

I've been mainlining Avengers related media for months now.  In addition to all of the recent Marvel movies, I've been loving the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon.  I've even gotten my 6-year old son into The Superhero Squad. 

What do superheroes have to do with creativity?

Whether you're a musician, writer or visual artist, constructing a piece of art is a super power.  Most folks just can't do it. 

Every hero has an origin story.  Lots of heroes are born with mutant powers, like The X-Men.  Some obtain their abilities through a freak accident, like The Fantastic Four. 

Then you have Thor. 

Thor has lots of cool powers, including:

1. Superhuman Strength
2. Flight
3. Weather Control

Do you know why Thor has all of these awesome abilities?

He's a frikkin' god. 

Now...

Did you obtain your ability to create because of a freak nuclear accident?

Are you a mutant?

Are you a god?  (Ghostbusters has taught us to answer this question in the affirmative, but I think it's okay to respond negatively in this case.)

I'm guessing your answer to all of these questions is no.

Which brings us to the superhero that we can all relate to:

Iron Man

Iron Man isn't a god or a mutant and he didn't get his powers through an accident.  In fact, Iron Man doesn't really have powers at all.  He has a suit of power armor... that he built... by himself. 

How can we build our own suit of armor?  By practicing our craft... every day.  Tony Stark works tirelessly at improving his technology.  He's constantly tweaking the armor to make it better.  As creators, we have to continuously improve, by working every day.  Every. Single. Day. 

You don't need to be a god or a mutant to do that.

Work Hard.

Be Iron Man.

So who are you? Iron Man or Thor?

Please share your thoughts.  This is my real e-mail address and I receive and respond to all replies. 

Better yet, you can respond publicly by commenting on my Blog or the Facebook post. 

Hope all is well with you,

John Anealio

johnanealio.com

Comments

[ncb1.livejournal.com]

Tell your friend that I really enjoyed this.Now if he were to add Captain America....