"With great power comes great responsibility." - Peter Parker/Spiderman

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more."
- Luke 12:48

"Having powers isn't nearly as important as what you actually do with them". - Matlida (film version of Roald Dahl's book)



As a child, I (and many of you, I suspect) spent hours fantasizing about what it would be like to be a jedi, or a superhero, or even the Bionic Woman (yeah, I know I'm showing my age here ) However, age does give one a bit of perspective. Now when I watch The Saga or the recent onslaught of Marvel films, or peruse the EU's most recent offerings, I often wonder if, given what I know now, I'd still be as gung-ho about being the next Ayala Secura or Wonder Woman if the chance presented itself. (Although having either's curves and/or abs would surely be nice )

IMHO, those who are born with powerful abilities are condemned to a future of walking a fine line between service and servitude. The jedi of the Old Republic have no personal lives to speak of - no attachments, no posessions, no life partners, no offspring. When our superheroes attempt to incorporate these things into their lives, the results are often disasterous; their loved ones are targeted for kidnapping and torture, and their relationships almost always suffer as a result of their commitment to the 'greater good'.

Now, we have the Jedi of the NJO and LOTF thrown into the mix. Luke, Mara, and Leia each struggle with the inevitable guilt caused by robbing their kids of their quality time because their roles in the NR and the GA simply don't allow them enough hours in the day to be heroes to both the galaxy and their own children.

Of course, for good measure, we can add in many my favorite protagonists from the past decade . Remember . . .

* Buffy sacrificing her life as a 'normal' teenager (is there one, really??) to protect Sunnydale (and the world) from the atrocities arising from the Hellmouth?

* The Halliwell sisters doing the same (albeit in their 20s and 30s, and in San Francisco) in Charmed?

* the sacrifices Spiderman, Superman, and Batman each made in their personal lives in the name of fulfilling their respective roles as a champion of the people?

* having a good grown-up cry when reading the conclusion of the last Harry Potter book, when Harry realizes that, with the impending war against Voldemort brewing, he'll have to let go of those he loves the most (even as he's just realized who his 'special someone' is)?

* how Nathan and Peter Petrelli took their fireworks way up into the stratosphere - rather than take out their whole world - at the conclusion of this season of Heroes? (Those of you who know me know that I cried like a lunatic when that one happened.)

I could go on, but most of you have similar taste in films, shows, and characters, and we've all watched our heroes sacrifice so much, and usually for a world that has a short memory and a long list of expectations when it comes to those who are born with gifts that have the power to benefit the rest of us. In each instance above, the public has usually behaved like spoiled children: 'Do what must be done, but spare us the gory details!' 'You're stronger than we are, so it's your job to protect us whenever we need you!' And of course, the insult added to the injury of being forever indebted to the 'greater good': 'You're too powerful for us to cut you any slack, so don't your dare mess up!'

In light of all of this, should someone with extraordinary powers really be made to feel obligated to serve the rest of us? The jedi, with their infant recruitment policy, don't really seem (IMO) to have a true choice in the matter - by the time they are of an age to reject their responsibilities, they have already been conditioned to embrace them. In Marvel's Civil War series, many superheroes are condemened becasue they refuse to register evidence of their powers with the government, citing, perhaps rightly so, invasion of their privacy, among other greivances. And I'd have to say, I think I'd probably be one of the rebels in that scenario myself. I find myself sympathizing with folks like Sue Storm and Leia, who have days when they just want to give it all up and be average Janes and get on with their lives, as unfair as that might seem to the rest of the world that needs their helps so desperately (and constantly).

As if this isn't enough to consider, those who have special powers are also charged with the task of knowing exactly when to use their powers, and when to allow the future of the world to unfold on it's own. The concept of the 'greater good' itself is frightfully ambiguous, and the concept of serving it would be, I'd imagine, equally frightening. If two sides exist in every conflict, how does one know whose interests serve the 'greater' good? If stopping a great evil means sacrificing the lives of one, or a hundred, good people, should it be done (a topic, really, fit for a whole 'nother blog . . .)?

Last but certainly not least, reading Sacrifice last month put a new spin on this issue for me. Anti-heroes such as Jacen and, to an extent, his grandfather, Anakin, make me wonder if someone with such power could ever really be trusted (or even trust themselves). When someone like Jacen knows they can alter the course of history, where does that interference stop? Certainly, we'd want someone with exceptional powers - even someone from our world with, say, psychic abilities - to help solve a crime, or, better still, prevent one from happening. And in the GFFA anf the worlds created by our favorite comics, we cheer for the guys (and ladies) who use their powers to save the world, often from itself, in the form of humanity's tendency to perpetuate war and conflict.

But isn't there a point where life - and nature - should be allowed to take it's own course? Anakin (the elder) messed up when he tried to change the future, and inadvertently caused the future he had feared instead. His namesake, Leia and Han's son, tried to prevent the destruction of the jedi , and ended up getting killed in the process. Who knows what he may have become, maybe even the one person who could have prevented his brother's turning to the dark side?

And now we've got their firstborn, dear old Jacen who, after years of honing his Force abilities in an effort to avoid abusing them, has ended up doing just that. So disappointing. But surprising? Not really. For someone like Jacen, who has spent his entire life waiting for the elusive peace that he belives would have granted him a normal, stable life, it's not surprising that he would feel compelled to use his exceptional power to create a world he feels serves the greater good of the greatest amount of people in the galaxy.

It's his version of 'with great power comes great responsibility' - even if that responsibility means creating a galaxy where no one, least of all him, is truly happy in the end.

At the end of the day, I'm glad I'll never have that kind of power, or the responsibilites that come along with it.

Now, those killer abs, that's a whole 'nother story . . .