Quirkbag Collection #14 – 05.09.25
’Heroes. It’s an old-fashioned notion.’ If you are a hardcore Marvel movie fan, you would recognise this quote from the trailer of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019) way back then. It feels like ‘way back then’ even though it’s been 6 years. I recently thought about the influences in my life and how I became me, as I know it, and I found a lot of it was tied to the people I looked up to as heroes. The mature and more cynical ones would dismiss this as just the inevitable phase of ‘hero-worship’ in most young people’s lives. Maybe it is, but it sure is not all that trivial, not to me.
I look up to my heroes, real and fictional, but they don’t get chosen easily. It’s just like making friends I guess, picking those who really make you feel like you can be better. The very purpose of a hero for me is to be the quiet voice in my mind that pushes me in the correct direction when times are hard, or when I face problems in school or work.
Particularly when times are hard, the voice grows louder and I know I can live through it. A moral voice perhaps, to guide my choices. My heroes have always shown me hope and light when times are dark and tough, as any worthy hero should. Because they hold the virtues and values I admire, their silent and imaginary guidance in my mind nudges me ever so slightly to be more like them. To live up to them, in a small and personal way.
My Heroes
As a kid growing up watching movies and television, many of the fictional characters became heroes who strongly influenced my life. (The jury is still out on whether this is for the better; I hope it is)
Some of my heroes, who are included here, continue to inspire me to slowly become someone I am more comfortable being and liking as a whole.
No, there is no perfectionism included.
- Jerry Seinfeld (both real and fictional Jerry)
Jerry Seinfeld, the master of small things in life and the star and writer of the epic sitcom ’show about nothing’. ‘Seinfeld’ as a show really shifted my perspective on life. I mean, all the stress and the thought about preoccupations over work as though it might be the end of the world were flipped upside down. Their biggest problem was once about being to the airport on time for pick-up. Not a bad change of scenery from endless meetings?
I find Jerry puts a lot of the human in ‘humanity’; the silliness, the mistakes, the jokes, the relationships and the endeavour to try and master something in life.
I watched an interview once where he said he writes jokes everyday, not to create good ones but to maintain and hone the skill of writing it. There is much I take away with me in terms of perseverance and patience from him, and he inspires me to keep going and going one joke and one day at a time.
- Harvey Specter, Suits (2011 – 2019)
I first watched ‘Suits’ in 2021 as entertainment during the pandemic. Little did I know what inspirational value it would give me. When I struggled to keep studying hard, the idea that one could bend reality by being intelligent and relying on oneself to master skills again shifted my perspective. It was elegantly and beautifully manipulative, and always for the right reason in the end.
Like many teenagers, I made rather few good friends from school since I just didn’t like the same things. When I tried to go at new things and problems, coping with school work and all, having the idea of Harvey Specter really boosted whatever strength I had.
I’ve always found the steel and toughness in Harvey’s character to be charismatic. He makes ends meet in any situation, although with some hefty price tags and sacrifices. But it also highlighted to me the need to be tough when times call for it. Afterall, I doubt I would fare well in school if I didn’t spend large amounts of time preparing and studying; a case in point of price tags.
“You can get more than you have because you can become more than you are.”
– Jim Rohn
- Warren Buffett
Legendary investor aside, Warren Buffett is someone who held onto virtues that lasted him a lifetime. I admire his great patience. He knows exactly what he wants from a business he analyses and simply waits for the conditions to be right before taking swift action. Patience, again, that saw him through years of waiting. No words can do justice to his patience, but his investments and Berkshire Hathaway can.
Patience is something that requires little more than inactivity. Yet, most of us honestly pale in comparison to him. Sometimes I feel I can barely wait for trains to arrive, or for the internet to load (oh so many of us are guilty of this). This burning desire for instantaneous results has taken over.
The moral courage that he also has to do what he knows and believes in, despite all the noise and chatter around him, continues to be valuable to me. Increasingly so for that matter. It’s so easy to just follow the trend, be ‘part of it’ than not and fall prey to ‘FOMO’. I honestly can say I have always been secretly part of ‘JOMO’ (Joy of Missing Out), because it means I can truly spend time and focus on those things that matter. In Buffett’s case, keeping his investments and coming out ahead of the ‘popular crowd’. In my case, it’s doing this blog. It’s making the unpopular decision to keep going and trying to discover the depths of my being. And maybe a better person emerges.
To stand your ground and stay true to your own belief is a trait of a hero who goes against all odds, again, for the right reason. We could use more of them in a far more volatile world today.
- Tony Stark, MCU (2008 – 2019)
You would think Tony Stark is another popular choice, and maybe for the wrong reason. Iron man as a superhero is marvellous, indeed, but it’s the person I admire more.
When I think of Tony, I think of Pepper and Peter. From that arrogant and selfish weapons dealer to a universal hero, he grew into someone who placed others before himself. I always remember the line from Iron Man 3 (2013) that a ‘threat is imminent, and I have to protect the one thing I can’t live without. That’s you.’ A far cry from who he was. A sign that for the right reason we can become better. A push towards becoming the Tony he was when he chose to try a long shot at saving Peter.
Of course, he shouldered a burden that probably no one in real life does – the fate of the universe. But we all have responsibilities, one way or another. Tony never stopped doing what it took to protect and save his people and the universe. And we could learn a thing or two about tenacity and humility.
A little sense of duty would see us through some tides of challenges in life or work. You might call it ‘doing your job’. Sometimes it’s really hard, trying to figure out what to do and how to do it, but this is where the quiet voice comes in.
And I keep going a little more for my goal.
Heroism and Leadership, Altogether Now?
Heroes can be leaders. In some way, the very recognition of them being a ‘hero’ to others, inspiring emulation of their behaviour from others is already leadership.
Yes, fictional heroes are fictional, but as a hopeful child of movies, I find that more of us should try and live up to them. While we may fail, I doubt it should do me much harm in trying to embody the values they do. To one day be an amalgamation of those who inspired and influenced us positively is to then repay the favour forward by embodying those same values. It would be a worthy endeavour.
As always, I love ending with a quote. The one that comes to mind is a line from Theodore Roosevelt, a former President of the United States, in his famous ‘Man in the Arena’ passage.
‘…if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly…’
“Man In The Arena” by Theodore Roosevelt
More of us today could learn to embrace the slightly forgotten benefits of modelling after our heroes. Building courage, patience and tenacity, all that good stuff we talk about and have little of. And the world would be that bit better.
I know I would want to be more like my heroes. Would you?
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