The Joker's story

The character was called Batman, but he never had wings. The villain was called the Joker, but he never was funny to start with.

There is too much irony in the comic book turned into movie, “Batman”. I recall watching the series on local television, wondering why he had to take the batmobile instead of his private plane.

Batman has also been on the big screen a couple of times. With every screening, there is a change in the production company, cast, scoring and story. And with every screening, the film moves a notch higher in quality.

Today it is the most sought after movie. Long lines form in the cinema with every new installment of the batman series. The picture is no less the same in the United States.

But in a Colorado midnight screening packed with fans, a doctorate dropout hurled a gas canister, pulled out his gun and shot 12 people dead. Fifty-nine more were injured. The assailant’s name was James Holmes.

Holmes graduated with highest honors in neuroscience at the University of California, Riverside. He then enrolled in a neuroscience PhD program at the University of Colorado in Denver. He was “at the top of the top”, a brilliant mind at the young age of 24.

But something definitely went wrong. According to an Associated Press report, his loner personality and excessive focus provoked Holmes into believing he was the Joker. He was too engrossed with his career that he isolated himself from the real world. This caused him to think he is an actor in a movie and drove himself crazy into staging a tragedy. His life was wasted.

Holmes never had the guidance he needed, or the parental support he deserved even if he used to be a counselor.

In the Philippines, a number of the youths have backgrounds similar to Holmes. Some do not have a school to go to, parents to talk to, or worse, a home to live in. The numbers of delinquent minors are rising. Their ages are falling. Where has the hope of the next generation gone?

The biggest challenge in this dark world is to maintain one’s sanity while upholding excellence. No student in his/her right mind would want to become the suspect in a crime. No student would also want to lose his/her sanity in the process of becoming a professional.

If we opt to become like a James Holmes, our lives would be a total blackout, a product of our imagination. What good he could have done was to balance his interests without letting go of his dreams and ambitions. As a young person, it is very easy to do that. The youth is vulnerable to pain. We tend to eat up our emotions until it gets the most of us.

Holmes could have become a great doctor in neuroscience. He could have helped their nation in his chosen field. He could have even become an inspiration to a million other lost teenagers. He ultimately blew the chance of becoming a model to the young.

The big screen is not there for us to mimic, rather it mirrors society. The Joker symbolizes a picture of a dissolute youth who took out his disappointment on his mortal enemy. Eventually, he destroyed his life with his schemes. Holmes took the Joker’s story as his own story. If you’re thinking likewise, stop. There’s more to life than your struggles and pain.

Did the Joker ever make Batman laugh? I wonder. For sure, James the Joker didn’t. Don’t even think about doing the same.