Reboot

Recently I have stumbled upon a limitation that has been causing some strife for me: I have been limiting myself.

I could patrol, but I do not because I my suit is improper for it.

I could be more active, but I do not because I think few care.

I could let Mr. Jack grow, but I do not because I am afraid of being found out.

That all ends. No more suit, no more caring of what people think and say, no more caring if my identity is discovered. Today is a reboot.

After nearly a year of "being active" and being in the community, I am once again a new face, a new person. We shall see how this new person fares, and what he is capable of. Mr. Jack became lazy with his own self-indulgences, however small they might have been. The time for trivialities like that are at an end.

What real good do I do if I only go out when I can suit up and be recognized? The point of this is to help, not be a name and somebody. That would be nice, but if I help at least a few people in this life, doing this thing, by myself or with my friends, even if I am not ultimately remembered, I will have succeeded.

I started doing this for fame, you know. It was a selfish act masked as a selfless one. And it is time for that to change.

A small list of things to do:

-Patrol at least 3 times a week
-Concentrate efforts on promoting on campus awareness of different issues
-Identify main problem areas in city
-Begin my Acts

It is time to get the ball rolling. Stay tuned, fair readers.

Peace and Piece

The word “Islam” is derived from the Arabic root word of “salema.” For those unfamiliar with this beautiful tongue, it means peace in the most general sense. Like all words, it has multiple definitions, which include purity, submission, and obedience. We hear these words in English, and we think power, we think control. This is not, however, the same thing. Submission and obedience in Arabic are more akin to the English words of humbleness and respect. In essence, the word Islam seeks to embody the ideal relationship that a person should have with god: that of reverent service and loving piety and peace.

Islam is founded on the Five Pillars of faith. Shahadah, which means to witness roughly as in the way Christians only witness one god above all others, Zakat, alms giving, Salah, which is prayer, Sawm, which is fasting to show devotion, and the Hajj, or the pilgrimage to the holy land. Together these five hallmarks embody the two ultimate beliefs in Arabic: love of god, and love of neighbor and family.

When viewed in conjunction with Christianity, which is what the majority of Americans believe in, it is quite simple to see the connections. Both share a devotion to god, a respect and honoring of neighbor, and a love of family and charity. In fact, Islam and Christianity are almost one and the same, having both gone off of the Torah with their own further interpretations. They are both Semitic in origin, and their cultures are inexorably tied together.

I point out these definitions because it is through a terrible great many traumas and issues which we as Americans have come to view the Islamic world as a world of hate, violence and control, which is rather what the Islamic world tends to also say about America. The most recent agitation of the feud concerns the actions of 19 men.

19 men. Radicals of a religion which few others would ever take to the same extremes. Vigilantes, who saw widespread injustice and sought to destroy it.  Just a dozen and a half men who decided that enough was enough, and that they would make the ultimate sacrifice to prove that their faith, their countries, and their world would not be subjugated under might and power.

And then the towers fell.

And then the other radicals began to talk. Radicals of a politic which few others would ever take to the same extremes. Crusaders, who saw widespread injustice and sought to destroy it. Just a dozen and a half men who decided that enough was enough, and that they would send others to make the ultimate sacrifice to prove that their faith, their country, and their world would not be threatened by inferiors rebels and terrorists.

People forgot about the hundreds of Arab Americans who also died when the towers fell, who had come to this country peacefully with the same promise we all ultimately have. They forgot about the thousands of Muslim families in America who watched in horror as their beloved nation was attacked, and then turned on them with hate and blame. They forgot how both faiths, brothers in belief, had been born of the same love of god, man, and peace.

And suddenly, Islam meant hate. There was no understanding, no time to even think. There was only action, and anger, and pain, and suffering, and a terrible outcry about things which people could not quite define but had known to be for thousands of years. And then there was war.

Nine years after that attack we still have not healed. People of Islamic faith in America are looked down upon with derision and suspicion. Our brothers and sisters, who suffered as the Japanese Americans did in World War II for the same sort of incident, still suffer today. We look upon them as aliens, as conspirators, as terrorists. We do not recognize that they too are victims of an attack. An attack which struck their honor and the very hallmarks of all they believe. They are as us, and we are all still in pain and pieces.

And it is not right.

Today is a day of remembrance for the fallen, but it should also be a remembrance of those who still live on. We all live with a burden, of guilt, of loss, and of misunderstanding.

If we are ever to understand peace, we must understand our own hate first. We must conquer that general loathing we harbor wantonly, and realize that this was not just an attack on white, Christian America, but an attack on everything Islam stands for, everything the Arab world has tried to accomplish, and everything we have today. It was an attack on all of us.

As people who are attempting to be exemplars of society, we must not give in, no matter how deep our hate and no matter how great our pain is, to our desire to relieve that pain but dealing it out to those we feel have wronged us. The violence we deliver never heals. It will always leave a wound and always leave somebody else who then thinks they can relieve it with putting it on to something else. If we ever are to live in peace, we must bring the pieces of our wild anger into bounds. And we must love.

This day is a day of mourning. For today people still die because of that attack. People still burn books because of it. And people still cry for war because of it. Until that stops, and until we as progressing humans attempt to help our own hate and hurt end, there can never be healing.

A Hero in the Night, Apparently

http://heroesinthenight.blogspot.com/2010/08/hero-profile-43-mr-jack.html
I got featured on Heroes in the Night. (^^)

One year ago, I was looking on Wikipedia at people like Superbarrio, Master Legend, Superhero, Zetaman, Dark Guardian. Trying to get into contact with Dreamer, Mr. Silent and others. Thinking about what it would be like to ever meet up with any of these people and meet them, see what they were like. I did not even have a name back then, or any idea how I would go about getting to actually do these things with my situation.

But I worked. And a year later, I am happy beyond compare.

The people I have met in the community are special. I would have never thought to be featured or receive such offers and attention. I never had before, so why expect different. But that has changed, and with this I can do things and make the sort of difference I want to.

It makes me proud to be called and call others RLSH. And to be mentioned in such high regard by so many great people. Thank you, Mr. Krulos, for you feature. I will do what I can to earn it.

Elaboration

Recently I was asked by Poop Knife a question, one which is rather simple in its asking but complex in its inquiry. What is evil?

I have decided to edit and expand my response to him and post it here, as I think it is a question which rather crops up quite a bit in our community. As always, let me know what you think.

For the original post, click here: http://evilsupremepizza.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-is-evil.html

~~~~~~~

I am inclined to believe, much as I do about many things, that evil is innate. That is to say, objective. That evil is an absolute thing within the world that can be conquered, manipulated, and felt. That it is real. This, however, is pretty far from what I actually think is. I will give some background first to root it.

I believe that the world we live in is completely objective, which is to say that everything in it is natural, absolutely definable, and speaks for itself without having outside influences give or take meaning from it. The issue is that people themselves are beings of pure subjectivity. We interpret, we investigate, we bias and comment and bicker and decipher, all through the scope of our own limited interaction within the realm of actuality. Humans live in this world of absolute reality, but their own interpretations and subjectivity blur it, often beyond all comprehension. This is a huge and irreconcilable issue, and one which people tend to ignore.

The reason it is ignored lies with the fact that not anybody wants to deal with things which cannot be reasoned or defined, for the fact that humans are creatures of subjectivity also means that they desire to define things in their own terms. We are all Adam giving names to the world around us, but it is a mundane practice which only really helps us to cope with the fact that the world we are living in is completely beyond our grasp in intellect. There are exceptions, but I digress.

I used to say that good and evil are absolute terms, rooted in the objective world, that you could define them as easily as a scientist defines the different types of rock. But since I have come to terms with what really is going on, I have changed that belief greatly.

Good and evil, like all things man made, are subjective creations imposed upon objectivity. They are therefor nearly impossible to define on a general basis, and almost always false in their giving. You can give estimations however. Killing is generally perceived as an evil act, and while I would like to think of it as absolutely evil, that is my own bias talking. Killing, in point of fact can be interpreted as good in some cases, but this dual nature of interpretation is only the result of the real truth. That truth is that the universe does not have an opinion or a moral compass. Man does. Actions in the universe have no intrinsic meaning associated with them; ergo, they just are. And so death in the universe is not evil, it just is. Just like everything else. Man gives it meaning, and that meaning is often that it is evil. But in the confines of this universal law of nihilistic association, this is not always so.

On this theory, the world is simple to understand, because really, there is very little to understand and find out. The laws of physics, the development of the universe, and the what, when, how, and where are all simple questions used to investigate. They are tied to understanding the mechanics of an existence that does not give meaning, but these are rarely questions of "why". "Why" is reserved for questions concerned with subjectivity, those questions of meaning. "Why" is therefor concerned with man, as the universe is so objective it does not actually have any why to speak of it is again, just is.

Evil is whatever you make it to be. It is an unfortunate thing in some ways, but in others, liberating. Evil is defined as whatever a person defines it to be. You could say that you are a supreme being of evil and the most incarnate vestige of it. That is your definition of it, and it stands. No one can argue it. It is your own reality within reality, and as such is your truth.

There is, however, a contention to be had with this, and that is the power of group subjectivity. You see, if many different, separate and subjective sources identify one thing as being something, it becomes much more powerful and real. For instance, it is one thing for you to call yourself the most evil supreme being of all time. It is quite another for 1,000 people to do so. This, this subjective collectivity of definition, is actually what I constitutes power. The fact that man levies meaning upon a world of none gives the meaning sway over man, and so man creates his own psychological cage in this way. The more power, the more agreed upon subjectivity, the more real and accepted something is.

Evil can then be thought of as a specific expression of power, particularly of concern with destruction and things that are not perceived as "morally right." But again, since evil is a subjective definition, it really does not have any actual power of itself. Beast are not concerned with evil. Their morality stems from what helps them to survive, as does ours. Humans, however, have twisted this set of primal morality into imaginary definitions and guidelines for what we like to call "society," a fancy term for animals who think they are not animals.

Evil in this case represents actions which are detrimental to the societal whole, and are agreed upon by those various subjective interpretations we were talking about earlier. In simplest terms, death can be seen as promoting the destruction of life and the ability to live, while good is promotion of creation and livelihood. Let me be clear, however. They are not actually creation and destruction, merely the promotion of such. Good and evil are not actions, just definitions of actions, and as such cannot be used to actually interact with out highly objective world. Humans forget this fact in their passion and desire to be "right," and forge ahead with foolishness derived from a sense of ego feeding.

In this light we can see that evil is completely subjective, and therefor without definition. That it is a definition of what is, but not actually anything. But we can also see, as with all things, that if subjective investigations are made and all agree upon certain definitions, we can make the completely subjective nature of such things as evil a powerful and real force. In essence, we create something out of nothing, which really is something to be astounded by.

The Emerald Avengers

Sunday, August 15th, 2010 was so much fun, and exactly what I needed to get back into the proper spirit of things.

(Left to right: SkyMan, White Baron, and myself)

It started out full of a bit of havoc. Trying to park in Seattle, changing into my costume in broad daylight in a care on the side of the street. My eyesight was poor, and I was anxious to be back in the game. But I strode up Broad St. to the Space Needle, ready for the day.

On the way, I met my first mark to help. A man sitting on a bench, looking devoid of much income and very thirsty. I had thought to bring along a case of water with me, packing as much as I could in my bag. He spoke first, pointing out not the absurdity of my suit or shoes or tie, no, but my purple gloves. I told him they were sanitized. Asking why, I answered "I do some dirty work in these," then promptly offered him a bottle of water. He was very appreciative, and called me brother, and wished me a wonderful day. A good start indeed.

As a side not, it never ceases to amaze me that while most people gawk at our gimmicks, the homeless and in need look past the mask and costume and see the person. They are the only people I ever come across in uniform who do not seem to acknowledge me being dressed like, as Meow put it, "a well dressed bank robber."

Back on topic.

They were gathered at the steps of the ticketing counter to the Space Needle. There they stood: SkyMan, fancifully dressed in his red, green and blue motif, White Baron, who seriously looks amazingly awesome in all his armored glory, and Irishman, a real treat to finally meet him even though he was not in costume.

We exchanged greetings, took a few shots, then proceeded to patrol Seattle Center for a bit. The Sunday was busy with activities and fairs of various sorts, and we were essentially tourists for a time being. Just a group of costumed crazies out on the town in that glorious heat. And was it hot!

After touring Seattle Center and speaking with several nice groups of people, we decided to move onto Pike Place. After being swindled out of five bucks for parking help from a homeless guy (I ended up parking elsewhere), we met in front of the Seattle Aquarium and began our patrol in earnest. We managed to provide water to many folks, all grateful of our gift of refreshment. We headed up and then towards Pioneer Square, when Irishman had to depart from us. I still cannot believe I actually got to meet him. It was an honor. He is a great fellow.

White Baron, SkyMan and I continued our patrol, bonding and being gawked at, handing out water to those who needed it. Once we hit Pioneer Square we turned to head back to the Viaduct, having felt pretty successful in our water handout and beginning to call it a day. We came across two security professionals guarding the Federal building. They were very supportive.

While coming up under the Viaduct, a peculiar monster on a strange vehicle stopped at the stop sign just at the intersection ahead of us.

(The monster in question, Bag Monster)

It was Bag Monster, a man on a mission. Starting in San Fransisco, Bag Monster's mission is to ride across the country to bring a simple message of conservation: use less plastic. Did you know the average person uses 500 plastic bags in a year? That is the amount he wears, and it is truly incredible.

Visit http://www.bagmonster.com/ for more information on this man's great journey to bring awareness. I fully support this man in his endeavor. His is truly an RLSH in his own right.

We talked, were interviewed by his team, and posed and took pictures with him, even video taping a spot for his advertisement. It was all so exciting, and completely unplanned.

It was truly a great day.

Come to find out that our little water patrol was actually one of three that all happened on August 15th. Thanatos in Vancouver and the Team Justice in Florida all had the same bright idea as us.

You can read about their efforts and ours here, at http://heroesinthenight.blogspot.com/2010/08/rlsh-vs-dog-days-of-summer.html. Tea Krulos is an amazing writer. If you have not read his blog, you must start now.

We ended that night, Irishman, SkyMan, White Baron and I, as the Emerald Avengers, and I must say, that our success in helping hand out water on such a hot day is truly invigorating. It was one of the most memorable experiences to date, and I am truly excited to be back in action.

It just goes to show you that even the simplest of actions and needs can truly be a heroic act of kindness in their providing.

Stay frosty everyone.

Dusting Off

Time for a confession: it has been months since I have done anything remotely resembling work as RLSH or as Mr. Jack. And frankly, it has sucked supremely.

Worse yet, I most definitely deserved that feeling of being a near complete lie. I deserve a lot less credit than I am given. When it comes to upholding my duties, I have blown royal ass.

I have tried to ignore it, that feeling. It is an itch, deep in mind and apparently my stomach, grindingly roiling around to remind me that the life I live in the mask is dormant and false. I honestly do not feel like I have earned anything these last few months for myself. Sure, I have been busy, and not set in one place, and timing has been inconvenient and things just did not work out. So many excuses.

Time for that to stop.

I am dusting off the old mask and suiting up tomorrow to join Skyman and White Baron in Seattle to patrol, and I am so very excited to be at it again. It needs to happen more for me. Expect regular updates about my doings in the next few months, and if you do not get them, request them. Having others who expect something of you helps sometimes, and I am too often the one who does not ask for help. Here, I am.

Mr. Jack is officially about to kick ass.

Stay frosty, ladies and gents.

How to Get Cake

How to get cake, or as it also known on the internet:

CAKE OR DEATH?

(Seriously though, click on the "CAKE OR DEATH?" as it is actually a link. Please watch the video, or the rest of this post is going to make terribly little sense to you.)

When confronted with the question "cake or death," is is indeed a reasonable bet that the response will be something along the lines of "cake." Sometimes a "please" is thrown in as well, or if the questioned person is feeling particularly well spirited and in the mood they may reply along the lines of "oh yes, some cake would be quite splendid I would rather love some to have as it is one of my favorite things to ingest and consume." But only in rare occasions is the later form used. Usually, it is just "cake, please."

Honestly, try going up to a person and do this very exercise. Threaten them with either cake or death. Observe their response, give them the response desired, record your results, and continue your experiment until sufficient data has been gathered. Of course, having someone answer "death, please" will rather put a damper on conducting such a scientific inquiry and may lead you to need to cut your research short, lest the law interfere.

In all seriousness, though, how many people do you honestly know who would seriously pick death over cake, given the honest to goodness choice of the two? No one would. Given a choice between cake and death, it has been found (through the extensive sort of research mentioned prior) that approximately in the ball park of about roughly 100% of test subject mostly will answer "cake" more often than not most likely usually. This is just a rough estimate, again, but one which has been proven scientifically time and again.

Now personally, I see this as being a basic human trait: we want to live, and we want to live well, which makes the question of "cake or death" seem naturally funny to us. Normal humans, which is to say the vast majority of us, want to live happy, healthy, productive, and loving lives that they can feel good about. This has to some been seen as the quintessential goal of all humans, but let us not aspire to such big words and merely say it is a pretty good thing to want, shall we?

Within this context, we can clearly see why people choose cake at least 100% of the time in most cases. Cake is delicious.

It gives us good warm feelings inside our stomachs. No matter what type of cake you prefer, it all is, quite naturally, the most happy, healthy, productive, and loving food you could ever consume*. So what do people who want to live eat? They eat cake. Case closed on the issue of "cake or death" really.

Now to the point of this. We have established that people wish to live happy, healthy, productive, (cake) loving lives. If people want to live such lives of blissful (cake) happiness, it only comes to follow that they will desire the path that leads them to such results. If people want good (cake) lives, and they want to find the best path (to cake), then how does causing combative and unreasonably ridiculous drama fit into such a description.

Simply put, it does not.

The main reason this ever occurs is that people like attention. This selfish need for bloated self-importance stems back to times when people without such great cake filled lives wanted to seem like they too were good of live and cake. So, they found other ways besides being happy, healthy, productive, and loving to get their cake, and at the center of all these dark cake dreams is one thing: a selfish desire for attention.

Let me make this abundantly clear: if you cause drama, you will not get a happy, healthy, productive and loving life because of it. You will not even get cake. Some cases of such drama inducing have, in fact, actually led to death. And from a cakeological standpoint, this just does not make sense.

Why in the whole world would anyone ever choose death over cake? There honestly is no good reason, leading to the conclusion that the person making such drama and toying with deadly forces of anti-cakedom is being completely unreasonable. Which is, frankly, stupid as hell.

The point of this cake filled analogy is to point out one simple fact: drama is stupid, cake is good. This is not aimed at any person or people or cake in particular, merely a point which many should consider before they make a total broccoli out of themselves. Seriously, though, being broccoli sucks. Nobody likes it.

So if ever you were to remember one thing from this post, remember this, dear reader: when faced with the choice of living a good life of cake and happiness or one of stupid drama and broccoli ice cream, do not be a totally heinous ignoramus. 

Choose the cake. It is delicious cake. You must eat it.

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix

1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.

3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate. If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

Tip: Additional toppings can be added. I personally recommend adding a mix of chocolate frosting and chocolate chips onto it with strawberries in the middle.

Yield: 1 12 cup Bundt cake for 12 people

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Too-Much-Chocolate-Cake/Detail.aspx

Awareness 4: Forging Future Paths

It is interesting to think what this all will look like some day. It is even more interesting to speculate how it will get there. The concept of future is, to be sure, an intriguing one, one which fills men with the sort of terrible fear they gape at and bask in.

It is reverent, this future of ours. But at the same time, there are specific paths to this future which, in my most dishonorable opinion, are not worthy of testing to get to this glorious possibility of ours, that vast potential we all dream of where RLSH is common in the mind of man, or at least present in some aspect. That shining new day where we are actually a recognizedly valuable addition to the community of man. But again, there are paths there which I see starting to be tread now which I believe will not lead to this dream of ours.

With an increase in popularity and exposure was sure to come an increase in those who really have yet to understand why we put on our little masks. "Troll" is the common phrase I see for this, and while it is acceptable to question a man for his purpose and reason, to mock for sheer enjoyment and derisive pleasure is, bluntly, rude. I see an influx in many places of people who neither care for helping or for understanding; merely to come and point at the freaks in spandex. We have our villains, and they do a fine job of trolling enough. We do not need pretenders who do the same thing.

I also occasionally wonder as to the validity and purpose of some meet ups. Sure, meeting with other RLSH is always a blast, and helps to give that boost of confidence to get out in the field some of us need. But for some reason I feel like the purpose and intent of many patrols and comings out is being lost. I am not sure if I am alone in this, but it feels sometimes like the more people there are doing this, the more there are who go out just for the sake of going out.

My worry is that patrols will become a fashionable item, something superficial which new RLSH can flout and say I am real, even if their "patrol" was neither involved nor well thought out. I am not saying necessarily that it is happening now, just that it is a worry of mine. To trivialize the safety and protection of the community you set out to defend in order to gain a mere boost in ego and credibility is heinously wrong. If you patrol, it should be with purpose, and it should be thorough, and it should be careful.

I see many say that they have done patrols and done charity work and done so much training and know criminology and are developing fantastic gadgets. What good is development if it never develops something else? We live and work as people who fall under the label of "Real Life Super Hero." That, is a very heavy label to work under, but we should not feel that weight. We should not rest on what can be done, but we should strive and yearn for what should be done. Charity donations are not enough; charity founding is starting  to get there. Patrols fall short; a concerted effort with law enforcement and teams is needed. We must be better than we think we can be, and then go further. This title, this label, this movement, this community demands nothing less than your absolute best. If you are not willing to give it, of course you are still welcome to fall in amongst the ranks. But can you really stay there with that feeling that you may be doing enough and be okay with it? If the answer is no, then it is time to rethink some things about your life and future.

This may sound pretentious. It is a bit. I have not done nearly enough. This is as much a wake up call to others as it is to myself. We all must pull deep down inside ourselves and draw out those last reserves, and put them forth to create new horizons.

The future happens, but not without us. We create our own tomorrow, and if you really want it to be better than what yesterday was, you have to work at it. Our community of costumed citizens must strive to commit themselves to the best, and nothing less. After all, this is what our future should be. If you are not ready to be as good as the future you seek, stop. And think. Come back when you are. We will be waiting.

~~~~~~~

Awareness Challenge 3:
Answer your own complaints. A lot of people like to complain. This is natural. But few think up the answer. The next time you complain, stop, think, and seriously try to come up with what would be the best way to solve the issue you just put forth. RLSH is work, and we must be masters of solving problems, even and especially those we put forth. You must also be willing to think, really think, on the fly. Try doing this exercise. Those of you who actually do post your responses. I know I will.

Stay frosty everyone.

Travel's End

I am back.

A Long Road

We all have times in our lives where we have to step back and just reorganize. This for me is one of them. For a long time, I have felt odd about my role in our community. Combined with the timing of traveling I have decided to take a leave of absence for a few weeks. I will still respond to contacts made, but it may not be immediately.

I have a lot of thinking to do, a lot of time to spend relaxing and focusing, and a lot of focusing that needs to be done with my life. This is by no means permanent. I will still fulfill certain obligations I have to the community.

Be good to each other and try not to be so pointless with the drama. If you are going to cause a ruckus about something, make it about something worthwhile.

I need a break. Sometimes you just have to drive around aimlessly to find what was lost. Maybe that will happen. Anyways, here comes the road. Time to drive for a bit.

Stay frosty everybody.