A Leap of Faith

Late in 2018, Sony Animation released “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse,” a movie which told a version of the origin story for Miles Morales, an Afro-Latino Spider-Man in one of the many Marvel Universes. If you have not seen it, I would recommend that you stop reading this blog post for two hours and watch it. Now. It is not only visually stunning, but the story is amazing. It is worth your time. Go ahead. This post will be here for you when you get done. Spoilers are ahead otherwise.

If you’ve already seen it, or are returning from watching it, then let us proceed.

One of the best sequences in the film takes place after Miles’s uncle is shot and killed by Kingpin. The other Spider-People leave Miles tied up in his dorm room because he doesn’t know how to harness his powers and he is a liability to their mission to get home.

Miles asked Peter B. Parker (one of the Spider-Men he is trying to help) when will Miles know that he’s ready to be Spider-Man. Peter tells Miles that he won’t know. It requires a leap of faith.

Miles’s dad then comes by to tell him that his uncle Aaron is dead. Miles knows this because he was with his uncle when Aaron passed away.

Miles is frustrated and angry and dejected, but learns to focus and well…this happens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GclFUK4jefw?start=100

Sometimes you have to jump. You have to take a leap of faith. If you wait to be ready…you may never be ready.

Now here’s where I lay some things bare. I initially started writing this post as part of a blog I was going to start focusing on my journey towards a doctorate in higher education. I had applied for a couple of different programs and was fairly confident that I was going to get into one of them.

I could not have been more wrong, as I was rejected by both. But the double rejection led me to another animated film—1969’s A Boy Named Charlie Brown, and some advice from Linus:

I’ve picked myself up, and have dusted myself off. And knowing that we all have to face rejection, well, I decided that this year was the year I was going to stop being afraid of rejection.

So I dive back into writing. Fear of rejection has led me to be blocked on some things for far too long. Forget that. Time to put fingers to keyboard and dive back in.

Not just writing for myself, but sharing what I’ve written. Finishing projects. Submitting to publishers and agents and magazines and journals to see what happens. Putting more things online for others to see and read and share.

Granted, a larger, more existential type of fear is driving this, too. Fear of the end of the world because of a possible war. Fear of the end of the country between a possibly rigged impeachment trial and a possibly rigged election.

So if we’re going to go down, well, I’m at least going to get some shots up before the end of days.

What’s up Danger, indeed.