by Randall Allen Dunn

“Remember, Peter: with great power comes great responsibility.”

- Uncle Ben Parker

Everyone would love to have great power and influence. To overcome bullies and put them in their place. To outshine everyone else in a competition and be celebrated. To win the lottery and spend it on whatever your heart desires. To do more and be more and have more control.

But gaining more power doesn’t mean gaining more life. Before achieving power, a person should know how to live life responsibly without it.

The 2002 film, “Spider-Man”, addressed this truth in a big way, and restored a sense of nobility to the idea of super-hero films. To become a genuine hero, people had to do more than receive super-powers. They needed to make sacrifices that ordinary citizens were not required to make. They needed to attain levels of maturity and responsibility that allowed them to handle those powers in a good way, rather than using their abilities for their own personal gain.

They had to become selfless.

When high school nerd Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is bitten by a mutated spider, he develops spider-like powers to climb walls and shoot webs from his wrists. He also gains more useful powers like super-strength, super-speed and the ability to sense any approaching danger. Being a teenager, Peter figures he can use his powers for something good: to get the attention of his longtime crush, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). He decides he needs a flashy car to impress her, so he needs to earn some fast cash. So he enters a wrestling competition, disguising himself and using his new power to win the fight and the prize money.

Of course, he had to lie to his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) about the fight, since his guardian would never have given him permission to go to the fight arena. Ben was already worried about Peter’s odd recent behavior. Peter had become reclusive, neglecting his chores and any family time with Ben and Aunt May (Rosemary Harris). He even got into a fight at school, acting completely out of character.

Peter insisted he didn’t start the fight, but Ben told him that wasn’t the point. The point was he nearly put the bully who attacked him in the hospital. “Just because you can beat him up doesn’t give you the right to. Remember: with great power comes great responsibility.”

Peter didn’t appreciate Uncle Ben hinting he was heading down the wrong path in life, and begged him to stop lecturing him.

“I don’t mean to lecture and I don’t mean to preach,” Ben said. “And I know I’m not your father –.”

“Then stop pretending to be!” Peter exploded.

Once the words were out, Peter realized it was too late to take them back. Ben quietly ended the conversation and dropped Peter off, planning to pick him up at the same spot later.

Now, as Peter has regained some confidence from winning the fight, he’s ready to celebrate with his three thousand dollar winnings. Only the manager shortchanges him, giving him only a hundred and claiming Peter won the fight before lasting in the ring long enough to claim the prize. Peter argues that he needs that money.

“I missed the part where that’s my problem,” the manager tells him.

Helpless,Peter leaves the office. A few minutes later as he waits for the elevator, another man comes running from the manager’s office, pursued by a policeman. The manager emerges and shouts that the man stole his cashbox. The officer shouts for Peter to help stop the fugitive.

Instead, Peter steps aside, letting the thief flee into the elevator to escape.

The policeman is aghast. He runs for the stairs, yelling at Peter that all he had to do was stand in the crook’s way. The manager is angry, too. “You could have taken that guy apart. Now he’s going to get away with all my money!”

“I missed the part where that’s my problem,” Peter states, relishing his revenge.

Later, Peter finds his Uncle Ben laying on the sidewalk, injured from a gunshot wound. He dies as Peter kneels beside him. Peter dons his wrestling mask and follows police reports and squad cars to track the murderer. When he finds and confronts him, he recognizes it is the same thief he allowed to escape with the manager’s cashbox. His moment of glory has become a tragic, selfish mistake. One that cost him his Uncle Ben.

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

Everyone would applaud Peter for turning the tables on the manager who cheated him. It’s our nature to seek revenge instead of letting someone get the better of us. To seek our version of justice instead of God’s version of mercy.

The Bible calls us to something higher, and heroism calls us to something nobler. The Bible says, “Whoever can be trust with little can be trusted with much.” If we can’t handle the little things in life – the mundane, everyday choices to do what we know is right – how can we make the right choices when faced with big decisions?

The interesting thing is, Peter didn’t need special powers to do what he did. To stop the thief, all he had to do was block his path for one second while the officer grabbed him. To take revenge on the corrupt fight manager, all he had to do was step aside.

Peter chose to step aside. He chose revenge.

He chose himself.

Thankfully, Peter learned his hard lesson and devoted himself to helping others, at great personal sacrifice. Even surrendering his own happiness in a relationship with Mary Jane in order to protect her from further attacks. Because he learned his powers were meant for others, not for himself.

We all make similar choices every day, to help ourselves or someone else. Who will you choose?

Be someone’s hero.

Find more reviews of “Spider-Man” on amazon.com!

by Randall Allen Dunn

“The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man. At the end of this week, we will choose that man. He will be the first n a new breed of super-soldier …”

- Colonel Chester Phillips, from the film, Captain America

The world needs good men. It’s what our military forces have often said they’re looking for.

However, the definition of “good” differs from one person to another. I have always assumed that this military slogan did not necessarily mean a sense of moral “goodness”, of choosing right over wrong. It seemed to simply mean “physically skilled”, “combat ready”, or “good with a gun”.

But most of us have seen enough bullying to know that fighting ability alone doesn’t provide the kind of “good men” that the world needs. Not on our streets, not in our schools. Not even in combat.

In the film, “Captain America”, we find a different kind of goodness. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a 90-pound asthmatic, is determined to volunteer for military service. He’s a self-sacrificing individual who wants to fight for his country, but he can’t qualify to enlist. Even after five attempts in five different cities, claiming a different background each time.

Until Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) invites him to join the Strategic Scientific Reserve, a unit that seeks to endow one man with super-strength, to fight the Second World War on a whole new level. But Dr. Erskine is looking for specific qualities in his test subject. “So, you want to go overseas, kill some Nazis?” he asks Steve.

“I don’t want to kill anyone,” Steve answers. “I don’t like bullies. I don’t care where they’re from.”

Dr. Erskine likes Steve’s attitude, and signs him up. But Steve struggles to meet the physical demands of the military training, operating at half the strength and speed of his fellow soldiers. Toward the end of the week, Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) is aghast that Dr. Erskine is even considering Steve for the super-soldier project. He prefers another man, who has passed every physical test and proven his abilities as a soldier. Dr. Erskine insists that the Colonel’s chosen soldier is a bully.

“You don’t win wars with niceness, Doctor,” the Colonel tells him, drawing the pin from a grenade and tossing it among the men during their daily calisthenics. “You win wars with guts.”

He alerts the men to the grenade, and they all flee for cover. All but Steve, who throws his thin body onto the grenade to take the blast, ordering the others to stay back. The entire unit is stunned, along with Steve, as they slowly realize it was a dummy grenade … and Steve was ready to die for them all.

After he is selected for the experiment, Steve asks Dr. Erskine why he was chosen. Dr. Erskine reveals that Steve is actually not the first one to receive the serum. A Nazi scientist, Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), had taken it by force and injected himself with it, obsessed with possessing superior power. Unfortunately, while the serum made him stronger, it had side effects that made him deformed, giving his face the image of a red skull.

“The serum was not ready,” Dr. Erskine explains. “But more important, the man. The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great. Bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen. Because a strong man, who has known power all his life, may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strength. … And knows compassion.”

“Thanks. I think,” Steve says with a smile.

“Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing,” Dr. Erskine says. “That you will stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier … but … a good man.”

The serum successfully transforms Steve into a physically superior fighting machine, who ultimately becomes the super-heroic Captain America. But he keeps his promise to Dr. Erskine, maintaining his personal values of compassion and self-sacrifice – the kind of qualities that any wise commanding officer can be proud of.

Wars are started by bullies like Schmidt – men who view themselves as superior, deserving more than what they have received in life, determined to use any available means to get it, with little or no regard for those who get in their way.

Wars are won by good men like Steve Rogers, who fight to protect others from such bullies.

Happy Memorial Day!

Find more reviews of “Captain America” at amazon.com!

by Randall Allen Dunn

I am sometimes boggled by the rudeness and bad manners that define some of today’s youth. I keep wondering where it comes from, and why the next generation seems incapable of showing respect to the older generation.

It seems that many children and young adults suffer from a selfish self-delusion about their future, assuming that they will one day be a world-famous fashion model or become the next American Idol, after which they will never have to actually work a day in their lives. So they reason that, since their future is all sewn up due to their obvious talent, they don’t need to listen to adults. After all, who needs parents or teachers when you’re a celebrity in the making?

I’m not against stardom. After all, I hope to make a living one day as a writer. But I’m very much against people refusing to face reality because they think they’re above it. Anyone who has achieved lasting celebrity status had to make sacrifices and work hard for it – something that many of today’s “legends in their own mind” don’t grasp.

As I considered these things, and my concerns for the attitudes my own children might adopt, I wondered what made my own childhood different. And I remembered watching the movie, “Pinocchio”, when I was very young.

I remember it scaring me to death.

At the same time, as I grew up, there were certain lines I would simply never cross. I generally did not mouth off to my parents. I didn’t do drugs or smoke. I didn’t drink before I was of legal age, and I seldom drink now. I wasn’t a perfect kid, but I avoided a lot of things I could have gotten involved in, because they had “danger signs” that told me they would lead me into a trap.

I decided to watch “Pinocchio” again with my daughter, Abby, warning her that there would be some scary scenes, but that it was a good movie. I wanted her to learn some life lessons from something meaningful, not from the rude and selfish attitudes modeled on some teen television shows we’ve seen.

In the film, an elder toymaker named Geppetto, having no children of his own, wishes on a star for his latest puppet creation, Pinocchio, to transform into a real human boy. While Geppetto sleeps, a Blue Fairy appears in his toy shop and grants his wish, bringing Pinocchio to life. She tells Pinocchio he has been given a gift, but is still a mere puppet. To become a real boy, he must prove himself to be “brave, truthful and unselfish” by learning to choose wisely between right and wrong. Pinocchio promises to do so, with the help of his new friend, Jiminy Cricket, who volunteers to be Pinocchio’s “conscience”, since Pinocchio has no idea what a conscience is.

Like all of us, Pinocchio starts off with the best of intentions, determined to prove himself dependable by obeying his “father”, Geppetto, and going to school, just like a real boy.

But along the way, Pinocchio runs into two slick con artists that have “Bad Influence” written all over them: a fox named Honest John and a cat named Gideon. (For most of today’s children, meeting a talking fox and cat would be creepy enough to make them keep walking, but Pinocchio has a wooden brain.)

Seeing a wooden puppet with no strings, they seize the opportunity to make a quick buck. They tell Pinocchio that school is for losers, not talented stars like him. As a puppet without strings, Pinocchio should head straight for the theatre to start an acting career instead. Being a puppet with no conscience or experience, Pinocchio swallows their lies and lets them sell him to Stromboli, a puppeteer who makes Pinocchio the star of his show.

But when Pinocchio tells Stromboli he’s ready to head home now, Stromboli throws him in a cage, telling him it’s his new home, and his new job is to make the puppeteer a fortune.

At this point, Abby told me she didn’t like this movie. I understood that. Nobody likes consequences, or even thinking about them. We love to dream of the wonderful life we feel we deserve, but we never consider whether we’re choosing a safe path to get there.

After I promised Abby that Pinocchio would get away, and she would like the movie in the end, she finally agreed to continue.

Thankfully, the Blue Fairy appears to rescue Pinocchio, telling him that poor Geppetto is out searching the streets for him. But when she asks him how he got in a cage, Pinocchio starts telling her the biggest lies he can imagine, despite Jiminy Cricket’s advice to tell the truth. He doesn’t want to confess that he disobeyed Geppetto by skipping school to become a puppet stage star.

So his nose grows.

And grows.

And grows!

The Blue Fairy explains that a person’s lies grow bigger and bigger, until they’re out of control. When Pinocchio confesses the truth and asks for help, the fairy restores his nose to its former wooden glory and sets him free.

The next day, Pinocchio starts out for school again, once more with the best of intentions. And once again, Honest John and Gideon show up to lead him astray. (Isn’t it funny how Bad Influences keep showing up until we learn to just say “no” to them?) This time, they tell him he looks ill, and needs a vacation. They describe a wonderful place for boys to have fun all day long, where they never have to listen to parents or teachers, and never have to be polite or self-controlled. A place where they can gamble and smoke cigars and drink whiskey and cuss as much as they want. A place where little boys like Pinocchio can finally be free!

The place: Pleasure Island.

Pinocchio buys their lies again, ditching his “conscience” Jiminy for the excitement of what Honest John calls freedom. On the wagon ride to Pleasure Island, he meets his new best friend, Lampwick. (When a kid in a story is named “lamp wick”, you know he won’t last for long.) Lampwick is the poster child for Pleasure Island, ready to break windows and play all day, doing everything that grown-ups tell him not to. He wants to experience all the fun in life that he figures the adults are keeping him from.

What neither boy realizes is that the happy owner of Pleasure Island has cast a spell over the place. Every boy who comes there to waste his life away soon finds it taken from him, as he is transformed into a donkey, then shipped away as a beast of burden to various countries.

With Jiminy Cricket’s help, Pinocchio barely escapes with his life, having already acquired a donkey’s ears and tail. Lampwick, of course, doesn’t make it. The Bible states that the candle of the righteous shines brightly, but the candle of the wicked will be snuffed out. Lampwick made his selfish choices, and didn’t seek an escape until it was too late.

Pinocchio arrives home, his foolish choices evident by his long ears and dragging tail. But Geppetto is gone. A letter from the Blue Fairy informs him that Geppetto went searching for him again, but was swallowed by the fearsome whale named Monstro. Pinocchio and Jiminy head out to sea to rescue Geppetto from the whale’s belly. They are soon swallowed by Monstro, too. Reunited with Geppetto, Pinocchio builds a fire inside the whale’s mouth, forcing it to sneeze them out.

As Monstro pursues them, Pinocchio gets Geppetto to safety in an undersea cave, just before the whale smashes into the cliff face. He saves Geppetto and the others, but dies in the attempt.

The Blue Fairy then gives Pinocchio new life as a human boy, since he has finally proven himself to be trustworthy and faithful, putting others above himself.

By the end, Abby decided that she liked “Pinocchio” after all.

Let’s face it, “Pinocchio” is a frightening movie about the dangers of making bad choices. But sometimes, we need to recognize the danger of a pit so that we don’t foolishly fall into it. It’s easy to dream up a perfect life for ourselves, where we achieve stardom, win the lottery, and everybody loves us, as we kick up our feet and soak it all in.

In real life, we need to work to receive an income, even a big one. And we need an education in order to qualify for steady jobs. We need to listen to grown-ups and people with experience, so that we can learn how to live our lives wisely. And we need to treat those people with respect, or they might not be as willing to share their insights with us.

Life isn’t as easy as rock stars and supermodels might make it seem. We love to hear about the mansions they live in, the fast cars they drive, and the people clamoring for their autograph. We’re not so interested in hearing about their fourteen-hour work days on the set, the desserts they had to give up, or the lack of privacy and a genuine social life. Even the rich and famous have to work, and their privileges typically come with a price.

It’s tempting to take the easy route to fortune and freedom, while ignoring everyone who tells you to follow the tried-and-tested rules of life. But many of those “rules” that get ignored are actually laws of nature, about how to treat others and succeed in a community. Cheating or coasting your way through life can cost you friends, your reputation and even your life.

When you’re tempted to chase after the “easy life”, remember that many older and wiser people have experienced that same temptation, and learned there were some strings attached.

Find more reviews of “Pinocchio” at amazon.com!

by Randall Allen Dunn

The problem with a fantasy story like “The Polar Express” is that you’re required to believe. We live in a skeptical world that doesn’t believe easily in things it can’t see or touch or prove in a court of law.

In other words, many people don’t believe in things that they can’t somehow control. Which is completely backwards. Believing in something means recognizing that some things exist that are outside of our experience and understanding, and trusting that we can find solutions that we don’t have yet. This is the essence of hope, which provides a strength far beyond that of many “realists”. Children are very good at making belief – finding ways to hope. But somewhere along the way, they “grow up”. That is, they stop hoping in the chance for change, and start planning for a life of disappointments.

“The Polar Express” is visually stunning for its detailed animation, to the reflection in the pupils of its main character, a young boy who is on the verge of abandoning his childhood beliefs in Santa Claus. He knows that some store employees and some fathers disguise themselves as Santa. He’s also looked up the North Pole in his encyclopedia and discovered it is incapable of sustaining life. By all appearances, the whole Santa Claus routine is just an enormous trick played on children.

Which is why an enormous steam engine appears on the street in front of his house shortly after midnight. Rushing out in his pajamas, he gapes at the train while its steam cloud slowly rises.

The train’s conductor (Tom Hanks) asks the boy, “Well? You comin’?”

“Where?” the boy asks.

“Why, to the North Pole, of course! This is the Polar Express!”

Naturally, the boy is confused. The conductor lists off concerns about the boy’s waning belief in Santa Claus: he has written no list, not sat on Santa’s lap at the store, and made his sister put out Santa’s milk and cookies. “Sounds to me like this is your crucial year,” the conductor says, leaning down to the boy’s face. “If I were you, I would think about climbing on board.”

The boy declines, nervous, and the train departs. At the last moment, the boy leaps onto the train and steps inside. There, he find several other children in pajamas, all intrigued at the prospect of visiting the North Pole. He meets another boy, a know-it-all who’s even more skeptical about Santa Claus – and everything else, for that matter – than he is. He also meets a friendly young girl who seems ready to believe and eager to help others.

Soon, they stop at the house of a poor boy on the other side of town, who declines the conductor’s invitation. But then he starts to run after the train at the last moment, just as the first boy had. But he’s too far away to catch up.

The first boy pulls the emergency brake, stopping the train so the other boy can climb aboard. When he does, he retreats to the caboose, separating himself from the other children. When everyone is served hot chocolate, the girl sets a spare tray aside to take to the boy in back.

But she forgets her train ticket on the seat. Knowing how vital it is to keep hold of their tickets, the first boy grabs it to take it back to her. But he loses it in the wind when he steps out the rear door.

But through the miraculous magic of the Polar Express, the ticket returns to the train a few minutes later for the boy to retrieve. Fearing the conductor intends to throw the girl off the train, the boy tries to find them. Pursuing them to the top of the train, he runs into a mysterious ghostly hobo, who encourages him not to be taken in by the whole idea of Santa Claus. “Seeing is believing. Am I right?” the hobo says.

When the boy finally does reach the North Pole, he and the girl have met Billy, the poor boy secluding himself in the back of the train. Billy tells them, “Christmas just doesn’t work out for me. Never has.” And so he doesn’t plan to leave the train to meet Santa. The boy urges the conductor that Billy needs to leave the train, but the conductor tells him, “No one is required to see Santa.” Even when presented with the very thing they long for, each child must choose whether to accept it.

The boy and the girl try to reason with Billy in the caboose, which accidentally gets disconnected from the rest of the train and rolls down a hill. When it finally stops, the children are hopelessly lost in the vast city of Santa’s North Pole workshop. They eventually make their way back, in time to see the arrival of Santa Claus.

But the boy can’t see Santa over the crowd of cheering children. He can’t even hear the bells of Santa’s sleigh that the other kids seem to hear. Until one of the bells falls from a reindeer’s neck and rolls to his feet. The boy picks it up and shakes it, but still hears nothing.

Until he determines to believe, to the point of saying aloud, “I believe.” When he shakes it once more, it rings loud and clear. And he realizes that only believers can hear the sound.

At that moment, Santa Claus appears next to him. Soon, the boy is chosen to receive the first present of Christmas, so he asks for a bell from Santa’s sleigh. Handing it to him, Santa says, “This bell is a wonderful symbol of the spirit of Christmas, as am I. Just remember, the true spirit of Christmas lies in your heart.”

When they board the train to return home, the boy discovers the sleigh bell has fallen through a hole in his robe pocket. The train starts off before the children can look for it, and the bell is lost forever.

But the boy is encouraged when Billy returns home and finds that, this year, he has received a present from Santa. The next morning – Christmas day – the boy finds a special present under his tree. Wrapped in a box is a shining sleigh bell, which the parents cannot hear ringing. But the boy can. The film ends with the boy, narrating as an adult:

At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell.

But as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found, one Christmas, that she could no longer hear its sweet sound.

Though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.

Life is full of discouragement and disappointment. Christmases that “just don’t work out”. People that let us down, making us wonder why we trusted them. Losses of jobs, homes, health and loved ones that make us despair, ready to lay down in retreat rather than face one more day.

Learning to believe in possibilities outside of our own experience – learning to hope – is what keeps us going through disappointment and hard times. Knowing that we can endure one bad experience after another, because there is still a chance for something new to develop. The ones who give up on life are the ones who never learn how to hope. How to believe.

This Christmas, make a decision to hope. To expect things to change and to improve. To look for new solutions that you haven’t considered before. To talk to people that you haven’t talked to before, or those you haven’t talked to in a while. Imagine new possibilities, and believe when all the dust of Christmas settles and the decorations are taken down and the holiday light leaves everyone’s eyes, you’ll still be standing, in January and throughout the new year, and throughout the years to come.

Standing in hope.

Find more reviews of “The Polar Express” at amazon.com!

by Randall Allen Dunn

“Friends? Your friends? If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week … THEN you could see what it is, friends! …”

I had heard of Maus, the graphic novel that depicted the Jewish Holocaust. I didn’t realize how intense it would be to read. After all, the Jewish characters are all portrayed as cartoon mice. They wear clothes, work jobs and have families, but they’re mice, while the oppressive Nazi party is portrayed as a band of vicious cats. It seems tame enough, doesn’t it?

It’s meant to seem tame. Otherwise, few of us would disturb our own tame world by reading it. Most people living in the United States can’t relate to genuine suffering and loss. Let alone the experience of an invading army taking away our jobs, our money, our possessions, our identity, and even our loved ones.

Maus author and illustrator Art Spiegelman is a character in his own story, interviewing his eccentric, exasperating father, Vladek, about his experiences during the Holocaust of World War II. Art is trying to dig up details of the Jewish suffering during that time, to explain it in a way that modern audiences can understand.

“I still want to draw that book about you … the one I used to talk to you about. About your life in Poland, and the war.”

“It would take many books, my life, and no one wants anyway to hear such stories.”

Vladek tells Art how the Nazis progressively crowded the Jews out of society. After marrying his wife, Anja, Vladek became a soldier and was captured by the Nazis. While the Polish POW’s were kept in heated cabins, Jewish prisoners were forced to brave the bitter cold in outside tents. Vladek volunteered as a laborer to fill in for German soldiers called to the front, for the promise of housing and sufficient food. His fellow prisoners didn’t trust the idea of volunteering, choosing instead to die in the camp. But Vladek refused.

“I’m not going to die, and I won’t die here! I want to be treated like a human being!”

Thus, Vladek prolonged his life, by at least a few more months.

After Vladek was later released to return home, the Nazis gradually began taking away his furniture, limiting his food supplies, and forcing him to move into confined housing quarters, under new laws imposed upon all Jews. Vladek’s family was forced to send his grandparents away to Theresienstadt, which appeared to be a “convalescent home” for the elderly. Afterward, they heard horror stories about Auschwitz, learning that their grandparents were sent straight to the gas chambers. After the Nazis sent hundreds of Jews to Auschwitz, including Vladek’s young son, Richieu, Anja suffered an emotional breakdown. Having lost her son and most of her relatives, Anja wanted to die, too, but Vladek insisted they must persevere.

“No, Darling! To die, it’s easy … But you have to struggle for life! Until the last moment we must struggle together! I need you! And you’ll see that together we’ll survive.”

And he did. Finding help from Polish friends, bribing Nazi guards, scrounging for food, volunteering for work detail, and inventing clever schemes, while enduring illness, famine and countless Nazi death threats, Vladek survived. Because he insisted on doing so. Still, he recognizes that his ingenuity and perseverance didn’t save his life. It only prolonged it, allowing him to be counted among the fortunate few who lived through the Holocaust that claimed the lives of thousands. Vladek simply did what he had to do to get through one more crisis, survive one more heartbreak, and live one more day.

When everything is being taken from you – your home, your family, and all the things that gave you security and hope – you start assessing your life differently. Possessions that once meant the world to you are no longer important. While other things, once taken for granted, become priceless. In times of peace and prosperity, we have no worries. But when we are at war – with nations, governments, people or even oppressive circumstances – we switch into a survival mode, investing all of our time and energy into the things that are absolutely necessary. Cars and houses no longer matter so much as preserving a family photo. Advancing our careers and attending parties no longer matter so much as keeping our loved ones safe.

I can’t imagine the horror that the Jews suffered in the Holocaust. Even while reading this “comic book” representation, I was shocked by the cruelty they endured.

I can only acknowledge and remember, and learn from this historical record. Learn from the mistakes of the Nazi party, who chose a scapegoat to blame for their country’s troubles, and forgot that these scapegoats were human beings, not animals to be discarded like trash. And learn from people like Vladek Spiegelman, who learned how to cheat death time after time, doing whatever it took to survive, so that he could live to see another day.

And I can learn to appreciate what matters most, in this tame period of peace, to treasure it as much now as I will treasure it when it’s threatened.

Find more reviews of Maus at amazon.com!

by Randall Allen Dunn

Sometimes we can focus so much on major concerns that we completely ignore other concerns, deeming them less important. We can give all of our attention to building up our business, supporting national political campaigns, or volunteering to support charitable organizations working in other countries. These are all vital issues that should be addressed. But not at the expense of other concerns that might seem “small” by comparison, such as the needs of people in our own family or our own neighborhood.

This truth was illustrated in a profound way in the first issue of Green Lantern/Green Arrow, a short-lived comic series in the 1970’s that garnered new respect for comic books by addressing social issues head-on. When writer Dennis O’Neill was asked to revive the Green Lantern comic, he decided to pair him up with Green Arrow, a character who was somewhat of a cross between Robin Hood and Batman, using his wealth to armor himself with a variety of trick arrows to combat villains. O’Neill had penned a recent story in which Green Arrow lost his fortune, and thus began a journey of re-evaluating his views on life and the needs of those around him, setting a higher priority on the needs of those less fortunate.

O’Neill had viewed Green Lantern as, essentially, a cop. Of course, Green Lantern was a cop with a special ring emitting green energy, which could create any imaginable object from thin air – a giant hammer, a catapult, or a huge grasping hand. But he was truly an intergalactic policeman, part of the Green Lantern corps, composed of similar “cops” who patrolled various sectors of the universe under the supervision of the Guardians, an elderly council of blue-skinned aliens.

As Hal Jordan – Earth’s Green Lantern – flies into Green Arrow’s city for a visit, he spots someone threatening an older man in a run-down neighborhood, while a nearby crowd encourages the attacker. Disgusted by the mob’s support, Green Lantern rushes to the rescue, and soon finds himself being pelted with tin cans and other garbage. He can’t imagine what would make the crowd so hostile.

Green Arrow grabs his attention to unravel the mystery. He tells Green Lantern that the man he’s defending is Jubal Slade, a slum lord who’s been keeping his tenants in squalid living conditions, and now plans to evict them all in order to make himself a nice profit. Green Lantern understands the tenants’ ange, but can’t agree with their violent response instead of contacting the authorities.

Unfortunately, Slade is perfectly within his legal rights under the laws of the time. No one can force him to make his housing spaces safe and habitable. Slade leaves, thanking Green Lantern for his protection, ready to move ahead with his plans to toss everyone out on the streets. And there’s nothing these superheroes can do about it.

After Slade leaves, an older black man approaches Green Lantern with a question. “I been readin’ about you,” he says. “How you work for the blue skins … and how on a planet someplace you helped out the orange skins .. and you done considerable for the purple skins! Only there’s skins you never bothered with –! The black skins! I want to know … how come?! Answer me that, Mr. Green Lantern!”

Green Lantern hangs his head, stunned at his own ignorance. “I — can’t!” he answers, ashamed.

Green Lantern tries to do something about it, and later ends up threatening Slade. This prompts the Guardians to appear, ordering him to release the human and head off a meteor shower that threatens a distant planet. But when Green Lantern arrives to protect the planet, he discovers it to be lifeless. The Guardians had sent him on a fool’s errand, just to give him time to cool off.

Meanwhile, Green Arrow attempts to trick Slade into convicting himself, but his plan falls through and Slade nearly kills him. Later, using his power ring to disguise himself, Green Lantern succeeds in getting Slade to confess to the attempted murder of Green Arrow.

But the Guardians are not so pleased with Green Lantern’s performance, since he disobeyed their direct orders. Green Arrow rises to his defense, accusing the Guardians of losing touch with the people they’re supposed to be protecting. He tells them their concerns have become so broad that they’re overlooking the real needs of the people on Earth. Considering the wisdom of Green Arrow’s argument, the Guardians deliberate. They soon decide to send one of their own to Earth, disguised as a human, to join Green Lantern and Green Arrow in learning firsthand what humans experience. By becoming one of them, the Guardians can discover how to better serve and protect them.

Sometimes our plans for helping people can become so broad that we don’t see the trees among the forest. What serves the masses might do nothing at all for an individual, and that individual might just happen to be a neighbor or a family member. Someone who sees you every day as you head off to help others, and wonders when you’ll ever get around to meeting their needs, too. It could be as simple as a phone call to a shut-in or a visit to a nursing home resident. It could be as inexpensive as buying a lunch for a person who hasn’t eaten in days. It could be as significant as providing clothes or a place to stay for someone in desperate need.

Even superheroes can lose credibility if they save the world time and again, but never address the problems festering in their own back yard. People begin to wonder if they’re really heroes at all.

Open your eyes. Someone who really needs your attention could be standing right in front of you.

Find more reviews of Green Lantern/Green Arrow Vol.1 at amazon.com!

by Randall Allen Dunn

One day, while Abby was playing with a friend, both of the girls started screaming at each other over a toy. They were grabbing at it, each trying to pull it from the other one’s hands. Nicki calmed them down and talked with them about how to resolve things without getting into a big fight.

I came into the room a little later and asked the girls if they were all right, because I heard that they had gotten blown up.

Abby and her friend giggled and gave me confused looks. “We didn’t get blown up!” they said.

“It sounded like you did. It sounded like you got blown up by an argument bomb.”

They started cracking up, wondering what nonsense I was talking about now.

“Were you both grabbing this toy?” I asked.

“Yeah,” they acknowledged.

“Well, did you both start getting mad and yelling at each other when you were trying to get it?”

“Well, we were kind of yelling,” they admitted.

“That’s an argument bomb. As soon as you both started grabbing at it, it blew up and made you both have a big argument. Next time you touch something and it makes you both get really mad, you should let go of that thing right away before it makes you blow up.”

The girls were still laughing, thinking I was crazy. But Nicki loved this concept. She told the girls, “Haven’t you ever heard someone say that they ‘blew up’ at someone because they got so mad? That’s what happens when you start fighting over something.”

Nicki and I love the hilarious British children’s cartoon, “Charlie and Lola”, about seven-year old Charlie (Daniel Mayers), who often has to help his flighty four-year old sister, Lola (Clementine Cowell), understand the way things really work. Thankfully, Charlie is very longsuffering, and Lola is fairly easygoing.

However, in one episode, called, “Yes I Am, No You’re Not”, they’re having a lot of trouble getting along. They keep getting into arguments over little things, to the point that their mother threatens them. If they can’t stop their squabbling, she’ll cancel their plans to take them to the Chinese puppet show. Charlie and Lola work hard to play together without getting into a fight, but it doesn’t work. They’re soon arguing and screaming at each other, demanding their way.

So their mother puts them both in the “Simmer-Down Chair”. Contemplating their fate, Charlie and Lola decide that they need a plan to keep themselves from squabbling. They can’t agree on what television show to watch, so they decide to do something quiet … separately.

Sitting together at a table, they begin coloring pictures. But within a few minutes, their plan falls apart as they start fighting over the crayons they each need.

Back in the Simmer-Down Chairs again, Charlie suggests a new plan. Instead of saying “No” to one another, they should find ways to say “Yes”. Then they’ll be agreeing on things instead of arguing. Lola loves this idea, and giggles as she says “Yes” to the plan.

When they return to playing, they happily respond “Yes” to questions from one another, and find they’re enjoying their time together again. By focusing on working together, they find it easier to avoid getting upset with one another.

Getting along with someone takes work, especially when it’s someone close to you. It’s too easy to fall into a trap of getting on each other’s nerves and venting all of your frustration.

Some years ago, a church friend noted that when we feel slighted, it’s usually over a “slight” matter. We focus on what offends us, even when it’s relatively insignificant. By insisting on defending ourselves and our opinions, we end up hurting our relationships and building up our own frustration.

You can preserve a lot of peace in your home by avoiding arguments over small things.

Learn to let things go this week. And try not to blow up.

Find more reviews of “Charlie and Lola Volume 4” at amazon.com!

This is not your mother’s Wonder Woman. It’s not your father’s, either, for that matter. She’s charming and personable, but she’s not at all “cute”. She’s attractive, but obviously not someone to be trifled with. She’s full of hope and optimism and tender-hearted love, but despite what her enemies might presume, she is never … ever … weak.

The Wonder Woman presented in the graphic novel The Circle by Gail Simone is the true Wonder Woman for the modern world. Sort of like a superpowered Xena, but driven by love and compassion. Violence is sometimes necessary, but this warrior princess always tries to reason with her enemies to bring a peaceful end to their conflict. Before, during and even after the battle.

Her story opens with a bizarre battle against a race of super-intelligent warrior gorillas (No, that’s not a typo. They’re gorillas.). Created by the villainous super-gorilla Grodd, this simian army boasts that they were designed to destroy even Superman.

“You’re fighting me to see if you can defeat Superman?” Wonder Woman asks, amused. “I’m honored. Shall we?”

She commences to kick their butts. But not in the way you think. She starts out fighting them, of course, all the while evaluating and pitying her opponents for their poor choices.

Even in Africa, even among the hyper-intelligent youth of Gorilla City, they exist.

The bored, the impressionable, the easily misled.

Those whose discontent turns to a will to hurt, to kill, to terrorize.

She recognizes the enemies she’s fighting. Not just the danger they present to her, but the danger they pose to themselves. She actually wants to help her foes find healing, even as they try to kill her.

Later in the same storyline, Wonder Woman fights a super-villain named Captain Nazi. (I am not responsible for the names of these villains. I believe Wonder Woman was chosen to fight Captain Nazi because “Captain Good Guy” was unavailable.) She quickly captures the neo-Nazi terrorist and wraps her magic lasso around him. The lasso of truth takes over his mind, not only forcing him to answer Wonder Woman’s questions, but also forcing him to view the darkness of his own soul. To face the truth about his sad upbringing by corrupt and abusive parents. Wonder Woman sees it all, and the devastation it brought on this man, when he was a small boy named Albrecht. Before he began a life of hatred and terrorism.

And even for him, I follow the Amazon code when facing a vanquished foe: punishment for the adult … empathy for the child.

Even for him.

In the face of extreme violence, Wonder Woman remains sensitive to her enemy.

How different the world would be if more of us adopted this attitude. Seeking the benefit of those who seek to hurt us.

As a Christian, I’ve been taught by Jesus to “bless those who persecute” me, and to pray for them. Over the years, I’ve had some run-ins with bosses or co-workers, and those incidents led me to have a bitter attitude toward them. I didn’t want to put up with those people, and seeing them around the office sometimes made me cringe. Eventually, God broke through my stubbornness and reminded me to pray for my “enemies”.

Of course, they weren’t really enemies, out for my blood, but I had made them enemies in my own mind. So I needed to pray. Not that they would change or be nicer to me, but that they would be blessed. That their day would go well. That their efforts at different projects would be successful. That they would be happy. Praying for my imagined enemies to be blessed changed my perspective of those people, and the way I treated them.

You may not be someone who prays, but the attitude of your heart will change how you act toward someone. If you seek their good, you’ll have a smile ready when you meet them in the hall. You might even compliment them to their faces, or defend their reputations behind their backs.

But if you have no desire for blessing in their lives, they simply won’t matter to you as people. They will be annoyances, people that you’re forced to deal with on a regular basis. And your private, hidden frustrations with them will eventually surface. This is how we harbor hatred in our hearts. Not by open warfare or angry words, but by quietly withdrawing from one another. Until there’s no more relationship left to annoy us. And no chance to start fresh with those people.

In short, we write them off.

But Wonder Woman doesn’t. She treats even her enemy – whether it’s a vicious killer ape or a psychotic Nazi terrorist – with compassion and respect. Instead of pursuing her battle with the super-gorillas to its bitter end, she requests to speak freely with the gorilla leader, Tolifhar. Agreeing to a temporary truce, Tolifhar confirms that they plan to kill all humans, having seen them kill gorillas for their meat.

Wonder Woman agrees to help end the poaching, but urges Tolifhar to end his own warring. “You were not meant for base ambushes in the night, Tolifhar. Grodd’s made you see a darkness in every light. That’s not the life for you, or those you lead.”

Tolifhar and his squad soon surrender, as Wonder Woman offers to help them earn a lesser punishment from their king, if they agree to leave humans alone. “Grodd told us you would be vengeful,” the gorilla commander says, surprised by her mercy.

“I know exactly who I am, Tolifhar,” Wonder Woman responds. “Vengeance is for those who do not.”

Are you secure enough in your identity to extend grace – unmerited favor – to those people who could become imaginary enemies?

Don’t let small annoyances or annoying people get the best of you.

If you give in to feelings of bitter hatred, you’re defeated even before you enter into battle. But if you learn to show mercy and to bless others – even those people that you feel are working against you – you’ll be unstoppable.

Find more reviews of Wonder Woman: The Circle at amazon.com!

by Randall Allen Dunn

Joy is a choice.

Angels announced a message of comfort and joy for all people at the birth of Christ. But many people – even Christians – are still waiting to receive something special to make them happy.

In “Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas”, we’re given a sort of mid-quel, a story that takes place in the middle of the original “Beauty and the Beast” film.

The beautiful Belle (Paige O’Hara) has agreed to stay with the Beast (Robby Benson), an isolated loner with a nasty temper. When the Beast threw Belle’s father in his castle dungeon for trespassing, Belle volunteered to take his place instead, and the Beast agreed. What Belle never knew – and cannot be told – is that the Beast is really a prince, cursed with disfigurement by an enchantress, along with all of his castle servants, who have been transformed into various utensils that can still move about to do the Beast’s bidding. The curse can only be broken if the Beast learns to love someone, and she in turn loves him. He is secretly counting on Belle to help free him. When Belle begins to genuinely fall in love with him just before Christmas, the Beast receives new hope.

Unfortunately, the Beast loathes Christmas. After all, it was on Christmas day that he was cursed to become a beast, after selfishly complaining about the presents he received. So his utensil-servants all understand why the Beast has forbidden anyone to celebrate Christmas in his castle.

But Belle refuses to play along. She insists that Christmas must be celebrated. Not just for tradition’s sake, but because this holiday brings joy to the heart. In fact, she makes it clear that the Beast, more than anyone, needs Christmas.

The Beast disagrees, and his animated pipe-organ, Forte (Tim Curry), eggs him on. When they were all human, Forte merely served as a composer. Now a pipe organ, Forte provides music to soothe the Beast’s troubled spirit, a vital servant in the castle. And he has no intention of letting his master abandon his co-dependent gloom. So he uses his own servant, Fife (Paul Reubens), a piccolo, to spy on Belle and disrupt her plans to bring Christmas back.

When Belle searches for a Christmas tree to brighten up the castle, she ventures beyond the courtyard gates to chop one down. Forte informs the Beast that Belle has defied his orders about Christmas, and is now escaping the castle. Convinced that she has broken her promise to stay with him, the Beast pursues her and confines her to his dungeon. Belle tries to explain that she had only wanted to make him happy, but he won’t hear it. He sulks in his private chambers with Forte, feeling betrayed.

This is not the way anyone wanted to spend Christmas. The Beast abandoning all hope for his future. The innocent Belle locked away in a dark dungeon.

I’m reminded of the apostle Paul in the Bible, when he was imprisoned for simply preaching about Christ. For the crime of trying to bring good news about salvation, Paul was chained to a dungeon wall and treated like the lowest of criminals. From there, Paul dictated a letter to other churches, saying, “Rejoice!”

I can picture the scribe pausing in confusion, as would any of the church members who later received this letter. Rejoice? Rejoice, while sitting in a filthy dungeon, when all hope has been stripped away? Anticipating this reaction, Paul repeats his command. “Again I say, ‘Rejoice!’”

Paul’s joy didn’t come from his circumstances. He had experienced comfort and ease, as well as the terrible need he now felt. Those things would come and go, but his lasting joy came from the new life he had found in his relationship with Jesus Christ. A joy that could never be stripped away. Joy and hope can be found even in the darkest of places, if you’re willing to receive it.

While feeling sorry for himself, the Beast discovers a present that Belle had given him. Despite his rule against giving out Christmas presents, he’s touched and curious. Opening it, he finds a book full of stories that Belle had selected for him. He reads through them, touched deeper by a story which speaks of hope. He repeats the word aloud to himself: “Hope.”

And the Beast realizes that he and his castle do need Christmas. That he can have a future, if he chooses it. A future of peace and joy, and something new and surprising, just waiting around the corner. His future might even include Belle, if she’ll have him.

He releases Belle from the dungeon, humbly asking for her forgiveness. She grants it easily, and Beast releases the rest of his servants to celebrate Christmas. To usher back a spirit of joy that has long been missing from the castle.

Christmas is not really about presents. It’s about joy. Without the joy and peace that Christ brings, Christmas is just an act of going through the holiday motions. But the message of joy was for everyone. Whether they’re rich or poor, ugly or beautiful, free or imprisoned. Everyone was included in the message of comfort and joy over the birth of Christ, and that’s why we celebrate Christmas.

The message was even announced to those who would never believe it. Everyone is invited to experience the joy of Christ’s birth. That’s why we give gifts. That’s why we draw close to our loved ones. That’s why we bake fattening foods, decorate our homes, sit by a warm fire, and enjoy the beauty of a gentle snowfall. Those are all just different ways we experience the joy of this season, which comes to us once a year.

Don’t wait for the perfect Christmas gift, the most appropriate table setting, or the ideal weather. Just enjoy the season while it’s still here. While people are still ready and willing to embrace a time of joy.

Christmas, and the joy it brings, are a choice. Choose to celebrate.

Find more reviews of “Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas” at amazon.com!

A lot of moral dilemmas have a simple black-and-white answer. No matter how people try to excuse away bad choices, there are still moral absolutes that tell us it is wrong to steal from others, or to seek personal revenge on someone.

But we can easily forget that the same rule doesn’t apply to people. People are not simply “good” or “bad”, “right” or “wrong”. Yet we often dismiss someone who appears to be “in the wrong”, rather than considering their needs.

“Handy Manny” is a wonderful cartoon about Manny Garcia (Wilmer Valderamma), a local handyman who assists his community with the help of his talking tools. In the multi-cultural neighborhood of Sheetrock Hills, Manny gets to work with all sorts of people on a variety of projects. At the same time, he finds opportunity to explain some of his own Hispanic traditions, such as celebrating Cinco de Mayo or Quinceañera.

In the episode, “Skateboard Park”, Mayor Rosa calls Manny and the tools with a serious problem. Kids are skateboarding through the crowded park and making it dangerous for others trying to use the sidewalks. Some of the park visitors are elderly, and can’t maneuver out of harm’s way. Small children are also present, and the skateboarders can’t always stop themselves quickly enough to avoid a dangerous crash. The combination of speeding skateboarders and other foot traffic is a bad accident waiting to happen. So the mayor asks Manny to post a sign that prohibits skateboarding in the park.

It seems like a simple job. Until Manny meets his friend, Elliot (Lance Bass), one of the skateboarders. Manny explains how dangerous it has become for Elliot’s friends to skateboard in between all of the other park visitors.

“But it’s the only place to skateboard in town,” Elliot argues. His buddies need a place to skateboard safely, where there are no cars, and the park has plenty of wide sidewalks to use.

When Mayor Rosa arrives to emphasize the problem, Elliot insists, “But we’re soooo careful!” Sadly, Elliot’s skateboarding buddy demolishes his argument a moment later, as he crashes his skateboard onto the grass nearby.

Manny tells Elliot that they have no choice. They can’t risk the safety of everyone else in the park. Elliot sadly complies, trudging away with his skateboard under his arm.

For most of us, the problem would be solved. Sure, it’s unfortunate that the kids can’t skateboard anywhere, but there’s simply no alternative.

But Manny decides to press for a better solution. Having no ideas of his own, he goes to a trusted friend, Kelly (Nancy Truman), who runs the hardware store and always has whatever Manny needs for a project. This time, he needs a better idea.

Kelly listens to the problem, remembering how Elliot loves skateboarding in the park. “Well, it’s too bad there isn’t a part of the park that’s just for skateboarders,” she notes.

Manny thanks Kelly, realizing she has just given him the solution he needs. He returns to Mayor Rosa and suggest that he and the tools build a ramped skateboarding area in a corner of the park, where the skateboarders won’t risk running into anyone else. Mayor Rosa loves the idea. “I should have known you would come up with a way to make everyone happy!” she beams.

Working within a community means taking everyone’s needs into consideration. It’s not always possible to find a solution that fits for everyone. But more often than not, people simply don’t make the extra effort to come up with better ideas. Working through a problem until you find a solution that satisfies everyone is difficult and time-consuming. Some people simply don’t feel it’s worth the hassle. Especially when they view one affected group as clearly “in the wrong”, just like Elliot and his troublesome skateboarding friends.

But the best kinds of neighbors make time to find solutions that benefit everyone.

For more information about “Handy Manny”, click on the picture link at left for an interview with Wilmer Valderamma, the voice of Handy Manny.

SIDE NOTE: When my very handy wife, Nicki, was working on a project, our three-year old daughter was astounded at her ability to repair things. “Mommy, you’re like Handy Manny,” Abby said, awestruck. Right after Nicki thanked her, Abby said, “Daddy is like Mr. Lopart.”

For those who don’t know, Mr.Lopart is the bumbling candy store owner with a comb-over, who breaks everything he tries to fix.

I think she just wanted to give me a part on the show …