Y'all are too obsessed with Batman. Just sayin'. :)

Being on vacation rocks. Today I went to see my therapist and he was teaching me some meditation/anxiety deflecting techniques. Oh and listening to my crazy stories from the past 2 months when I was too busy to go see him. He's super zen, a spiritual guy, and a little bit odd - he wears a white button down shirt and blue jeans every day at the office. I want to ask him about that some day. I left and just walked around the city for hours and got lost. My phone even died and I didn't care. 

Now, I don't want to scare y'all away from posting or anything, (I love all your comments, even the ones that aren't so nice, cause it gives me something to write about) but I had to share this comment I got yesterday on one of my older posts. You may remember the comment someone had left on "The man behind the curtain", if not you can clink the link and read the comment (scroll to the bottom) if you like, but if you're in a hurry or just not all that interested in the cult thinking that has led us here today, I'll sum it up. Basically they used a Batman reference to say that our families shun us in the same spirit that Alfred had when he decided to leave Batman at one point. He was scared for his safety, wanted to show him the error of his way, couldn't bear to watch him go down this dangerous, deadly path, so he left. I thought I wrote a clever response in "Rebuttal" but you should read this (both because it's more clever than my response was and it also mostly saves me from having to write my own blog tonight). This person would clearly make an excellent lawyer. :)

They wrote:

Here’s where I find the Batman reference to be problematic. It stops at one scene. Instead of picking one scene and line, I think it is more practical and logical to contextualize the issue. Let’s not forget the Batman discussion that you referenced happens shortly after Alfred has admitted to deceiving Bruce for numerous years about a major motivating factor in his life (i.e. burning the letter from Rachel that revealed her true feelings about Bruce). Alfred has in his mind an idea of happiness for Bruce that doesn’t fit the trajectory Bruce’s life has taken. In fact, Alfred has limited himself to envisioning only one method of happiness for his boss – Bruce must quit being Batman, not fight Bane, and just settle down. Bruce refuses. Does Bruce go out and get hurt, in fact have his back broken by Bane, just as Alfred worried he would? He sure does! But guess what, this makes Bruce a stronger person. As Batman, he fights the battles he needs to face, stares down his past, manages to save a city, woo a girl, pass on his mantle and find happiness - all on his own terms. Alfred misses out on witnessing all this. 

At the end of the movie, Alfred discovers Bruce has found happiness after all. This happiness is the exact type that Alfred envisioned for his boss at the beginning of the movie. (As a refresher, Alfred references a recurring dream he has early in the movie. He imagines being in Italy on a patio, looking up, and seeing Bruce seated at a table with a girl. Bruce has obviously left his years as Batman behind, and settled down. This is how the dream ends, and this is how the movie ends). 

Alfred smiles. Curtains close, everyone cheers.

The point here is that there are many ways to happiness. It’s natural we want the best possible life for our friends. But cutting them off because we feel that happiness can only be achieved in one, predetermined, broad brush stroke is unfair. This is conditional love. Not the unconditional love the Bible expounds. 

Alfred sobs at Bruce's grave, believing his boss to be dead. Meanwhile, what is really happening is that he is crying at the grave of a friend who has not died. Isn’t this what the disfellowshipping arrangement does, by causing family and friends to treat as non-existent someone who is very much alive (and quite possibly happy, or on their way to happiness)? 

Like Alfred, family and friends can either acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, there exists more than one road to life and happiness. That life does not fall apart when one stops following the JW rulebook. 

If they can’t do that, then hey, to paraphrase Commissioner Gordon, maybe those are not the kind of friends that Blackbird deserves. And guess what? They are certainly not the type she needs either.