Become a better you by fighting evil
By Aidan Mouellic, Contributor
There is one thing that a lot of great people have in common: whether it’s Bruce Wayne (Batman), Rosa Parks, Sherlock Holmes, Winston Churchill, or Nelson Mandela, they all had nemeses.
These individuals achieved brilliance because of the forces they fought, and they wouldn’t be great without the impact that injustice had on their lives. Though the examples I have given are extreme—I wouldn’t really want you to have to go up against a deadly villain like Batman does, or do like Sherlock Holmes and face a dangerous freelance criminal—you can find your own, less violent arch-enemy to help propel you to a better version of yourself.
Your nemesis should be a force of evil that will motivate you to fight it, overcome it, and become awesome in the process. In our own lives, these evil forces might not be as obvious as a villain in a homoerotic costume, but if we look hard, we can find a suitable arch-enemy. For instance, it could be issues with anxiety: instead of viewing your anxiety as a personal blight, view the anxiety as a force that needs to be fought and defeated. You can overcome it and be a more awesome person. Or your nemesis could be a self-defeating habit of procrastination. Instead of viewing the procrastination as a manifestation of your laziness, view it as an external evil force that you vow to fight and beat.
Your nemesis doesn’t necessarily have to be internal. It can be quite Hollywood if you want it to be, or it can be that know-it-all classmate of yours who you strive to best. The desire to faceoff with this classmate will help to make school more fun, and will help improve your grades, as well. But I would warn you to play nice and not publicly declare Mr. or Ms. 4.0-teacher’s-pet as your nemesis; keep this to yourself, because going public would be weird.
The people in life who succumb to evil forces are often those who fail to acknowledge their foe, or who see their foe but choose not to fight. You see this happening in the people who succumb to addiction or bullying. These evil forces claim too many lives, but the tables can be turned if enough people vow to fight the evil head-on, and not shy away. To fight larger causes such as bullying, it would help to form an alliance, though—it isn’t a one-person job.
It can take some uncomfortable self-reflection to find a suitable arch-enemy. To attain victory against yours, you must first be aware of it, then stand up and vow to destroy it. As the great philosopher Kanye West once said, “That that don’t kill me can only make me stronger.” I wish you the best of luck in your quest, and I also recommend not wearing a mask—you’ll just end up being questioned by the police.
