Teach & Serve V, No. 8
The Brave and the Bold
September 25, 2019
I believe we are better when we are not surrounded only by those who agree with us and those with whom we are safe. I believe we do some of our best thinking and our best work outside our comfort zones.
One of my favorite comic books when I was a kid was The Brave and the Bold. It was a DC Comics title that featured Batman teaming up with a different superhero every month. Typically the adventures were only one issue in length and, equally typically, the set ups for the meetings of the heroes were often outlandish (Bruce Wayne is on a plane going down and it is saved by Green Lantern? Who would have thunk it?). However, more frequently, they were accomplished by with a nod to the idea that all of these superheroes – these brave and bold people – simply were part of the same “club” and they were parts of each others’ admittedly bizarre lives.
I assume the writers had a terrific time concocting the most interesting tandems: Batman and Lois Lane! Batman and Elongated Man! Batman and Sgt. Rock! Batman and the Joker? Are you kidding?
This must have been a fun title to write.
In our daily lives in our schools, we have the opportunity to create and take advantage of these kinds of combinations. Administrators are able to put together committees of differing personalities and perspectives to further the various missions of our schools. Teachers are able to combine students into cooperative situations that play to individual and collective strengths. Students often pull each other together in groups we would never anticipate.
I believe we should do more of this kind of thing, we should seek out more diversity in our groupings. I believe we are better when we are not surrounded only by those who agree with us and those with whom we are safe. I believe we do some of our best thinking and our best work outside our comfort zones.
Let’s be more like Batman and the Joker… let’s be Brave and Bold.