As long as I can remember I have had a special place in my heart for the comic book character known as Batman. More than any other fictional character, and if I am really honest, more than any real life person as well, Batman has helped to define my own personal and moral code. My mother, who is a fairly religious person, has lamented over the fact that I have never in my life asked myself “what would Jesus do”, but have on more than one occasion chosen a course of action based upon “what would Batman do”. With that said, as I sit here on my vacation Norway I have been thinking about the recent shooting in Colorado during the midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” and the Norwegian shooter from last summer quite a bit.
Anyone familiar with the Batman mythos will know that Bruce Wayne’s (aka Batman) parents were senselessly murdered in front of him while on their way home from watching “The Mark of Zorro”. Their murder marks a critical turning point in the life of the young Bruce Wayne. I keep thinking about how the horror of their deaths while leaving the theater mirrors in many ways what happened in a darkened movie hall in Aurora. I don’t know if this was a plan of the Colorado gunman, but much in the way that the Mark of Zorro will forever be a painful reminder for Batman, the Dark Knight Rises will now forever be a scar across the psyches of many of the movie attendees. That is something that I personally find painful because Batman has always been a source of inspiration and joy for me during harsh times.
However, I can find a ray of light in the madness of the shooting. Much in the way that Batman used the tragedy to make himself and the world better, I hope that some of those impacted by this event will dedicate themselves to making the world a bit less dark. Not by putting on a costume and fighting crime, even though the little kid in me wishes that it was really possible, but in some other more grounded and practical way. For my small part, instead of giving in to the recently media fear of warning people about the possibility of copycat shooters going to the premiere of the movie, I will take my entire family to the midnight opening of “The Dark Knight Rises” when it premieres in Oslo.