Ya but Superman Could Fly
There is nothing
profound or special about this article
today. There’s really no other reason
for me to be writing it except to point
out the qualities of a successful life.
It’s about how a young man believed in
himself, his decisions and his ideas,
even when it came to flying without
wings.
Arthur was an
overactive six-year old who got himself
in a whole mess of trouble his entire
young life. His family lived in a small
town in Northern British Columbia. I
met Arthur sometime in the late 1980’s
while early in my career as an ambulance
paramedic. He was a patient we had on a
medevac flight following one of his
brushes with death. The warning label
on the Superman costume he got for
Christmas stated: “Caution: Cape DOES
NOT enable the user to fly”.
Of course a
six-year-old can’t be expected to
understand directions like that, but
maybe someone ought to have pointed it
out to him before he leaped from an
upstairs window and landed in the snow
twenty feet below. The little fellow
had a few broken bones as a result.
He was
stabilized at the local hospital, but
the doctor on duty decided he needed
further cervical spine x-rays, and he
should be seen by a pediatrician at
Children’s Hospital. We were called to
fly him to Vancouver. There was a
spare seat so Arthur’s mother came with
us. During the flight, I asked her
about his previous history. She told me
he had a lot of scrapes, bruises, some
broken bones, and that his older
brothers had put him in a clothes dryer
when he was about eighteen months old,
and started it up. He rode around in
that for a few minutes until his parents
wondered why the floor of the whole
house seemed to be vibrating. His
injuries weren’t too severe, but he was
observed on a heart monitor overnight in
hospital. Apparently there was a
possibility of electrical current
passing through his body. The 240 volt
breaker was blown, the result of too
much weight in the dryer!
“Arthur”,
I said to him. “How was it to fly out
the window at your house?”
“Really
cool”, he replied. “I knew I could do
it …. Just like Superman”. Although he
was lying flat on a stretcher with a
cervical collar around his neck, his
enthusiasm radiated like a giant
Christmas light. I needed to remind him
to lie still, because there were more
x-rays to be done to confirm his neck
was OK. He let his outstretched arms
drop back to his sides.
“Didn’t
anyone tell you that you’ll need WINGS
to fly?”
“Ya, but
Superman doesn’t have wings!” Already
he had his arms up again, and continued
on. “He just puts his arms out, and
takes right off”.
“Arthur
you have to keep your arms down”.
“I
couldn’t take off from the ground, so I
jumped out the window. But it didn’t
work too good”.
I
glanced at his mom. She sighed, and
reminded the little boy to stay still.
My
sense of Arthur was that he had enormous
faith in himself, confidence that he
could do about anything he put his mind
to. His mom filled me in on more of his
past. He could already skate and play
hockey better than all the kids in the
neighborhood. Report cards from his
grade one class talked about his
exceptional academic abilities and
natural leadership qualities, even at
his young age.
But
he was almost too much for his family to
contend with. Obviously his mother was
proud of him but she seemed to be
fearful at the same time. Fearful for
his safety and his future. This episode
of believing he was Superman was
something she almost expected was going
to come from Arthur.
In
those days, I already had a private
pilots license. To divert attention
from any fears that this boy had about
his injuries and what was happening to
him, I asked him if he ever thought he’d
like to fly an airplane himself.
“Yes”, he responded. “I’ve thought of
that. When I grow up that’s something
I’d like to do for sure”.
His
mom didn’t look surprised.
“We’re flying right now aren’t we?”
Because the stretcher was too low for
him to see out the window, Arthur could
only see the sky above through the small
round opening.
“Yes we sure are”, I told him. “While
you were sleeping, we took off heading
for Vancouver. Have you ever been to
Vancouver?”
“No. But someday I want to go. I’ve
seen it on TV. You can make a lot of
money and have a lot of fun in a big
city like that.”
The sedation kept Arthur quiet for the
rest of the flight. He was fortunate to
have a good outcome from the jump, his
injuries were not life-threatening or
serious, and within a few months I heard
he’d made a complete recovery. Over
time, I almost forgot entirely about
this extraordinary little guy, but was
surprised to get an e-mail from his
mother who had stumbled on one of these
articles and wondered if it could have
been me in that jet with her and her
son. It was now twenty five years
later. Arthur was by then thirty one,
happily married and was running a
successful business. Not surprisingly,
it’s in Vancouver. He had never gone to
college, apparently didn’t have time for
that. He went into a sales job which
didn’t end well. But he had faith in
the product and ended up buying and
running the entire company. He also
learned to fly! Arthur had a private
license, and had at one time considered
upgrading to a commercial license and
pursuing a flying career. But by then,
he was apparently too successful in
business to give it up and go flying
full time.
So he’s happily doing whatever he
chooses to do. He’s a young man with
determination, drive, ability and the
attitude to be anywhere he wants. The
note from his mother stated that she is
relieved he grew up, because he put his
energy to good, sensible projects, and
never again tried to fly off the roof of
his house. He was game to try anything
at least once. In his business, it
took two attempts and had gone broke
between them. But that’s the kind of
kid he is. He failed at sales, but
exceeded in ownership and management of
the company. He always had faith in
himself and his decisions. Somehow he
survived the falls, ended up on his feet
and proved that Superman can fly.