Dark Knight of the Soul
[Keeping the Darkness at Bay, Part Five. See also one, two, three, and four.]
My last few entries in this series have focussed on the topic of love and how we should treat people. Today, we’re turning inward. Though how you treat people is a crucial indicator of the type of character you have, if you plan to keep the darkness at bay, you need the kind of moral fortitude that stands consistent within itself.
If our treatment of others is the effect, today we address the cause. You cannot stand without a foundation. As the wise teacher once said, the house built on solid rock will last, but the one built on sand will be swept away. To build this foundation, we need to value truth and justice.
And who better to help us fortify this foundation and confront the darkness than Batman?
Batman fights the shadows in the shadows. He fearlessly confronts all the twisted evil Gotham’s underbelly can manage to cough up. His biggest, fiercest, most fearsome villain the The Joker, an origin-less clown who represents everything Batman has sworn to stop. The Joker is anarchy to Batman’s justice, the killer versus the protector.
How Batman defeats the joker is key to keeping the darkness at bay, but not in the way you think. This time, we need to NOT follow Batman’s example. Let me explain…
The Dark Knight
Summer of 2008, cinematic masterpiece The Dark Knight graced movie screens worldwide. Though not everybody enjoyed its dark tone, the film would go on to leave a legacy as one of the best superhero movies of all time.
This Batman Begins sequel is obviously a Batman movie, but the Joker takes the center stage. Heath Ledger acted the role masterfully, delivering one of the most memorable cinematic performances of all time. Ledger’s posthumous Oscar win was well deserved.
Now, the goal of this post is not simply to reminisce about Batman or Heath Ledger. The part of the movie I want to bring perspective to is the ending.
I know the movie’s over ten years old, but I have to say it anyway: SPOILER WARNING!
The movie introduces audiences to Harvey Dent, an ambitious District Attorney dedicated to the law. He’s like the legal version of Batman. He has the capacity to do in the light what Batman has to do in the shadows. Harvey is seen as a hero. He is passionate about justice and wants to put all criminals behind bars. He’s Gotham’s best chance at ridding the city of organized crime.
Enter the Joker.
Joker kills the woman both Harvey and Bruce loved and in the process, Harvey Dent is disfigured: Half of his face is scarred. Ironically, in the past he had the nickname “Two-Face.” Harvey, in the face (pun intended) of the injustice dealt by the Joker, embraces his own definition of justice, deciding right and wrong by the flip of a coin.
But how could this be? Dent was supposed to be a hero. How could the Joker change him? Was Two-Face two-faced all along? He gave up on Gotham and he gave up on the law.
In the end, Dent dies and Batman takes the fall for his crimes. The reason? Batman is the hero Gotham deserves, but he’s not the one it needs right now. Harvey is the hero Gotham needs. So, Dent’s legacy is protected, Batman goes on the run, and the Joker goes to jail, end of story.
But it’s not the end of the story.
In 2012, The Dark Knight Rises completed the trilogy. In this third film, we find Bruce Wayne, a broken recluse. Gotham thought its problems were over, but the victory over the Joker was predicated on the heroics of Harvey Dent and his legacy of justice. The problem?
Harvey Dent’s legacy was a lie.
Gotham wasn’t cured when Batman took the fall. The lie festered beneath the city. The lie was a foundation of sand, and a storm was coming for Gotham’s reckoning.
In our fight against darkness, Batman and Harvey Dent teach us come very valuable lessons, mostly in the category of what not to do.
One—Justice Exists Outside of Yourself
Harvey Dent was every bit vigilante as Batman was. Lawyers, am I right? But seriously. Harvey prides himself on “making his own luck.” He embraces this idea with keeping a two-headed coin in his pocket at all times. He says he wants justice and values the law, but the quickness of his descent to villainy reveals a disturbingly shallow foundation.
He sees that he can no longer make his own luck within the system. His luck runs out with the death of Rachel. The problem with Dent is he learns the wrong lesson. With his scarred now-two-sided coin, Harvey decides what justice is.
But how can you be qualified to carry out a “justice” of your own making?
If he understood true justice, he wouldn’t be relying on nature’s luck to decide whether or not to kill someone.
His foundation is shallow, and he paid dearly for it.
If you have a firm foundation in truth, no amount of bad luck can shake that conviction. Truth and justice exist outside of nature. In this life, we will have tragedy. How we react in tragedy shows our fortitude and integrity.
Two—You Can’t Base Something Good on a Lie
Batman and Commissioner Gordon had good intentions, but Gotham paid the price.
No amount of justification can justify a lie. A lie is unjust and wrong by nature, because a lie, by definition, is not true. Darkness thrives in the land of untruths. The most deceptive lies are those of good intentions. Here’s a truth: There’s no such thing as a white lie.
A lie doesn’t fix a problem; it covers up the problem, and the problem festers, and like an infection it will grow and spread with greater potency than when it started.
“Good people” who lie and trust their own code of conduct are no better than the Joker in his destructive anarchy.
The Application
Don’t lie! Understand that truth and justice exist outside of yourself.
In the words of the bible, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)
In the words of Kendrick Lamar, “Be humble. Sit down.”
Be humble in the understanding that you don’t make the rules. You need to cooperate with truth and justice. If you try to create your own, you’re deviating from a set foundation, and you will crumble.
Here’s the hard to swallow truth: Harvey wasn’t the hero Gotham needed.
Gotham liked the idea of Harvey, but the real Harvey was Two-Face. Sometimes, we need to come to grips with the death of our idols. The people we admire may not be who we think they are. But don’t let that distract you from the fact that some things are true regardless how people act. Gotham would’ve been better off if it knew the truth of Harvey’s demise sooner.
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I love Batman and I love The Dark Knight. But it’s even better in context of the full trilogy. If you haven’t watched those movies recently, you can find it here on Amazon. [Full disclosure: This is an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]
