Reflection #3

          In an attempt to explain my recent posts on my blog, I am going to expand on our first reflection. As I stated in our first reflection assignment, my favorite superhero is The Incredible Hulk, but, like most American males who grew up around the same time I did, I have more than one. Another one of my favorite superheroes growing up was, the Sorcerer Supreme: Dr. Stephen Strange. The contrast between those two heroes is vast and quite obvious and yet the two are very similar. Where the Hulk is savage, Dr. Strange is cunning; where the Hulk is brutal, Dr. Strange is calculated. The similarities between the two are also quite astounding. Both superheroes where at one time doctors at the top of their respective fields (Bruce Banner was the top gamma researcher while Dr. Strange was a neurosurgeon), both where born of freak accidents (Bruce Banner was caught in a gamma bomb after saving the life of a young boy who had come riding in on a motorcycle and Dr. Strange’s hands where crushed beyond repair after a freak car accident). Both superheroes had tragic backstories (Bruce Banner was beaten by his father until one day he snapped and killed him and Stephen Strange was the lead surgeon in a desperate attempt to save his sister’s life, who ended up dying on his table) and finally and arguably most importantly, both heroes draw their power from raw emotion, the angrier they get the stronger they become, although in different ways, the Hulk becoming physically stronger and Dr. Strange’s ability to call up more magic force is greatly increased. While both heroes tend to pull from their emotions to strengthen their abilities, one has to wonder why Dr. Strange isn’t consumed by the entirety of the cosmos pouring into him when ever he taps into it, but the Hulk can go berserk if he gets stuck in traffic. Whenever I find myself feeling that rising heat of anger flowing from whatever dark recesses of my mind in come from, I like to think about that very difference and I often realize that most of the time, allowing anger to overcome you isn’t a good thing; it often does more harm than good, but; if you take that anger/energy and use it toward something much more productive, such as homework, the results can be astounding. It was then that I discovered the answer; Dr. Strange has the capacity to turn his anger and direct it in a positive manner, while the Hulk is like an oversized toddler, the only way he knows how to cope with his anger is by...well, SMASH! By using this in my life, I discovered the means to not only controlling my anger, but using it in a productive manner.