Shazam!

Before the days of cable television and "The Cartoon Network," "Nickelodeon," and "The Disney Channel," the best time to watch cartoons was on Saturday mornings.  I remember waking up on Saturdays and going downstairs to our family room to watch all of my favorite cartoon shows on television.  Some of my all-time favorites (that I would still legitimately watch today!) were "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?", "Laff-A-Lympics", "The New Adventures of Flash Gordon", "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies", and "Super Friends".  There were other shows too, like  "The Banana Splits", "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters", and "Land of the Lost". 

I remember one show in particular called "The Shazam!/Isis Hour".  The first half of the show was about a superhero named Captain Marvel (actually, there have been two different superheroes named Captain Marvel by different comic book companies - DC Comics' Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam! and Marvel Comics' Captain Marvel, which is why there were two movies starring Captain Marvel characters that came out within the past two years), based upon a Superman-like character named Captain Marvel or Shazam! and his alter ego, Billy Batson.  The second half of the show, "The Secrets of Isis" focused on a female superhero based on the Egyptian goddess, Isis, whose alter ego was a high school science teacher named Andrea Thomas.  Andrea Thomas would become the superhero Isis when she touched an amulet that she wore around her neck and recited the incantation, "Oh mighty Isis!"  The teenage Billy Batson would change into the superhero Captain Marvel whenever he shouted the phrase, "Shazam!"  I loved it!

What I never understood, though, is why Billy Batson traveled around the country in a RV (a 1973 Dodge Open Road motorhome) with his guardian "Mentor" (this story arc was never featured in the comic book).  What was really cool is that "Shazam!" was actually an acronym that explained that Captain Marvel got all of his superhero powers from six immortal elders (see a trailer from the show here):

S - the Wisdom of Solomon
H - the Strength of Hercules
A - the Stamina of Atlas
Z - the Power of Zeus
A - the Courage of Achilles
M - the Speed of Mercury

What a way to encourage a kid to learn about Greek, Roman, and Egyptian (the superhero Isis) mythology!  I had no idea (at least at that age) who most of these gods/goddesses were, but I remember talking about them with my parents and looking them up in our Encyclopedia Brittanica!

Okay, again, I know what you are thinking!  "Where is he going with all of this?"  There are two points actually.  The first point is the importance of having a mentor (just like Billy Batson's "Mentor").  You may recall that the word "mentor" again comes from Greek mythology.  The Greek Mentor was a friend of Odysseus, who instructed Mentor to look after his son, Telemachus, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War (read about this story in Homer's Odyssey).  Mentor's job was to protect and guide the young Telemachus.  If you are familiar with the story, you will remember that the Greek goddess, Athena, appeared as Mentor to help Telemachus during a particular trying time in his life.  Anyway, having a mentor upon whom you can rely and trust is a great thing!  It doesn't matter what stage of your life or how far you go in your professional career, it's important to have a mentor and rely upon your mentor.  I have been fortunate to have several great mentors throughout the different stages of m career, and to this day I often will go to them for advice and support (one of my mentors is now even my boss!). 

The second point I'd like to make is the importance of having role models or personal heroes (just like Billy Batson's "six immortal elders").  As Ryan Holiday wrote in a recent "Daily Stoic" blog post, "It's easy to get busy and get pulled off course by life...we are all influenced by the tempo of our times.  So it's key then, if you want to be good and do good, that you have a kind of North Star in your life that keeps you centered.  A role model who draws you back on course when the events of life or the drift of inertia subtly misdirect you."

The ancient Stoic writer Seneca gave this advice to a friend, "Choose someone whose way of life as well as words, and whose very face as mirroring the character that lies behind it, have won your approval.  Be always pointing him out to yourself either as your guardian or as your model.  There is a need, in my view, for someone as a standard against which our characters can measure themselves.  Without a ruler to do it against you won't make crooked straight."

Just as Billy Batson relied upon his Mentor to guide him along through the daily challenges of life, his alter ego relied upon the six immortal elders for all of his powers.  Moreover, at different parts of the show, Billy (as the teenager struggling with being an adolescent in a changing world, not as Captain Marvel) would speak with the six immortal elders to seek their advice.  We all need mentors, and we all need our version of the six immortal elders.  We may not be able to speak directly with our role models and heroes, but we can read about them and learn how they navigated different challenges in their lives. 

I will end with two quotes (I promise - just two) about mentorship and role models.

"Show me a successful individual and I'll show you someone who had real positive influences in his or her life.  I don't care what you do for a living - if you do it well I'm sure there was someone cheering you on or showing the way.  A mentor."  - Denzel Washington

"When you see a role model, what you see is a person who has the courage to be who you wish you could be.  Stop wishing and just be." - Anonymous