How the Boy Scout and Girl Scout Stereotypes are Connected to Sweet Potatoes
So, I ordered four sweet potatoes in my online grocery order. Ordering groceries online is full of surprises. Maybe you get all of your items, maybe you don't or maybe you get substitutions and find new brands and items you wouldn't have tried otherwise.
It was the first time I've ordered sweet potatoes. They weren't in a bag; they were like other veg at the store where you pick the ones you want.
Well, I got a surprise. All four of them are the size of grapefruits.
Now, you might be thinking that it's funny, but so what? Why are you writing a blog post about it?
Well, I'm a writer and a partly Irish one at that, so I kind of see them as a sign. As something worth noticing. Maybe I'm looking for meaning where there isn't any. All of the stock at the store may have been like that. Or the grocery store worker picked whatever as they silently counted down the seconds until their shift ended.
But I'm a writer who believes in Fate, who is maybe looking for magic, hope, something in these hard times. I mean, we need to hold onto the good things that happen now more than ever, right?
What is a Sweet Potato? What's its Significance?
A sweet potato is a large tuber. It can grow in tough conditions since it needs very little water and fertilizer. Sweet potatoes have high levels of vitamin A and C, as well as carotene. It's also been ranked as the world's seventh most important food crop.
I came across this article that says the sweet potato plays a major part in the lives of the Papuan people. It's used in spiritual ceremonies, daily meals, and acts as a symbol of peace among warring tribes.
That got me thinking about another symbol of peace that I know of...
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| Pop Art postcard portraying Christopher Reeve as Superman by Marlene-b.com and popmedia.ca |
A Symbol of Global Peace
When we're kids, we're taught about good and bad. The police always win and the criminals always lose. It's only later on that we learn about what's between the black and the white. and that there's a rainbow outside of that. We learn that there's more to people, more to life than good and bad. There are exceptions to the rule, and people make mistakes. People are not one thing; they are multi-faceted and complicated.
But as a kid, stories keep everything simple.
The first live-action superhero I met was Superman played by Christopher Reeve. When I watched television and movies, they felt more real to me than anything else.
In his autobiography, Still Me, Christopher Reeve talks about his life leading up to his recovery from his horse-riding accident. It is quite hard to read the sections when he describes his time in the hospitals, but one thing that stood out to me was that when he had to make an appearance to the public after his injury and do it while in his wheelchair. He feared what people would think and say to the man who played Superman, but who was clearly nothing of the sort. Despite the years that had passed since playing Superman and despite all of the other roles he had played, people still saw Reeve as Superman and he was deeply touched. For me, he will always be Superman.
Even all these years later, I still get choked up every time I hear John Williams' theme and even more so when I see films like the Richard Donner cut of Superman II and Superman Returns having dedications to Christopher Reeve.
As a kid, you miss a lot of meanings from the dialogue and references to the comics (I hadn't read the comics yet when I saw the first Superman movie). But I looked up to him and still do. He never lies and is a symbol of justice and hope. He is tall, dark and handsome and he is the Boy Scout stereotype. But he doesn't feel like a stereotype because he also makes mistakes (like giving up his powers) and there's more to him than just being a superhero. He is also Clark Kent and does everyday, hum-drum human things in Metropolis.
As Reeve witnessed that people, especially children, still saw him as Superman after his accident, Superman is more than a man. He is an idea that people need. He is the idea of strength and hope for a better world. He is the idea of always striving for peace.
Which brings me to another Boy Scout... Dr. Sam Beckett.
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| Still from "The Leap Home Part 1" (I do not own this image) |
Spreading Peace throughout Time
Sam struggles to "put right what once went wrong," so he can leap back to his body and time period. Sometimes, Sam must thwart a criminal or convince someone who has been making bad decisions to change their ways. And in some cases, Sam goes head-to-head with another character who can be deemed "pure evil," such as the Season 5 storyline that followed "The Evil Leaper." And in "The Boogieman," Sam fights with the most evil being in the history of humankind.
Sam is often stuck making sacrifices in his different leaps while in the overall story arc, he is sacrificing his own life to save the world while under the control of some higher power.
Sam is the symbol of struggle and perseverance, which is beautifully captured in "Catch a Falling Star," with the song The Man of La Mancha. The lyrics state that Sam is very much the Knight and Boy Scout:
"...All your dastardly doings are past. For a holy endeavor is now to begin and virtue shall triumph at last..."
"to be willing to march into Hell for a Heavenly cause..."
But that's not to say that he's perfect. Sam does make mistakes himself, but he's tries to do what he thinks is right with his own common sense and Al's guidance. But like Superman, there are times when Sam has had enough of doing the right thing for others and just wants his life back.
In "The Leap Home," Sam is back at his family's farm in the body of his younger self before his father died from poor health, before his brother went off to Vietnam where he died, and before his sister grew up to marry an abusive man. Despite Al warning him that's it's not meant to be and he can't change his own timeline (unless that's why he leaped), Sam tries to warn his family of their horrible fates, so he can save them. But no one believes him and it just upsets the family.
Sam: "I always do the right thing, Al, and what does it get me? Why can I save strangers and not the people I love?"
Al: "I don't know."
Sam: "Well, I'm not going to do it anymore, Al. I'm not going to do it."
Despite his promise to stop helping strangers, Sam has "a lot of Boy Scout" in him as Al points out in the episode. And Sam has to make the sacrifice and do what is right for history. Quantum Leap demonstrates that, although your actions don't seem to have any significance within your narrow view, the actions can come back to you, as well as affect the world in ways you never imagined.
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| Still from "A Moon Star is Born" (I do not own this image) |
Upholding Peace on Earth
Much like Superman and Sam, Sailor Moon, aka Serena in the English dub version, is another example of the Girl Scout* stereotype, and just as nostalgic for me. Sailor Moon was the probably the first ever superhero I saw at a very young age. She is shown less disciplined as Superman and Sam since she's a whiny teenager with much to learn. She is still making mistakes, lets fear get the better of her and she doesn't always do what she should (like homework). But as the song goes:
"She will never turn her back on a friend, she is always there to defend, she is the one on whom we can depend."
Sailor Moon is on Earth and, with the help of her guide Luna, Tuxedo Mask, and her fellow Sailor Scouts, saves Earth countless times from Queen Beryl and his followers, who try to steal human energy to release the Nega Force. Sailor Moon has the burden of having an alter ego, like Superman, but she's lucky because she has friends who share that burden with her, a little like Sam Beckett. (Depending on the film or "-verse" you look at, Superman does have friends and does know Batman's identity). At her core, Sailor Moon has what it takes to do what's right, even if she feels she can't or doesn't want to with the help of her friends' encouragement. As she uses her powers, spends time with her Sailor Scouts and realizes what Sailor Moon represents, Serena matures and knows what she is capable of achieving.
*I am aware that the English television cartoon changed a lot of the original manga's story and that they aren't technically "scouts."
Conclusion
What we see from Superman, Sam and Sailor Moon is that when the Boy/Girl Scout stereotype gives into selfish desires, it leads to chaos and horrible consequences. But that's not to say that you can't give into any selfish whim. It's that sometimes you have to do what's right instead of what's easy. And as always, you have to live a life of balance by doing things you love and have to do. Balance brings peace.
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