Why Do We Fall? The things I learned from The Dark Knight trilogy

Published first on my personal blog - inspr.co

As a kid I was a huge fan of superheroes. I grew up fantasizing about waking up one day, realizing that I have superpowers (actually I still do), but nowadays, as I’m facing reality, there is one superhero (which isn’t that super) that really inspired me.

Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy was a real inspiration fountain for me. Generally, Batman is a symbol of a normal guy who decided to dedicate his life to being a hero, knowing the cost of it. Specifically, the Dark Knight trilogy is made of some truly inspiring quotes, motivational soundtrack, and some really strong messages for life. So, without further ado, here are my most remarkable quotes and lessons from the Dark Knight trilogy.

“It’s who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me”, Batman

This sentence caught me at a time in my life that I was pretty bad programmer in the same job for about 3 years. I thought “Wow, I have three years of experience. Nice!”. But, it wasn’t until I’ve understood this sentence that I understood my title isn’t enough for me to be good or attractive at this job. I know I’m a smart guy, and I know I can get the job done. The thing is, I can brag and tell whoever I want how smart and good I am, but as long as I’m not actually doing a good job, I’m really a bad worker.

“Nobody panics when things go ‘according to plan’, even if the plan is horrifying!”, The Joker

I really like this joker quote because I find this as the base of good humor. Humor is taking the expected plan and change it surprisingly. As a designer I’m taking this sentence to people who stick to normal templates. Don’t get me wrong — I love templates and design guidelines (like Material Design and Bootstrap), you don’t have to invent the wheel every time you design. But I think sticking to the normal plan weakens your sense of criticism. I always try to be unexpected — to think about the regular by-the-book solution and how it can be changed to an original and unique solution. Sometimes it isn’t necessary, but sometimes it pushes me to make amazing things that I wouldn’t be able to make if I wasn’t forcing myself to go against the plan.

“Why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”, Thomas Wayne

For me, this is the best quote and probably the best moral to a movie. Although he’s the hero, batman fails many times and often choose the wrong way. The thing is, only by failing does he learn how to overcome his failure — only by falling does he learn how to pick himself up. I think this is the best mantra a movie has ever given to me. We all fall, that’s natural. But what makes a person successful is his/her ability to fall, understand the situation and figure out the way to stand up, and go on, stronger and smarter than before. Whenever I feel frustrated from my failures (and there’s a bunch), I try to remember this quote and act according to it.

And another thing!

Batman decides to be a lone wolf, and that proves to be a stupid decision. Throughout the movies we see that the best lessons he gets are the ones he is taught by people in his life — people like his father, Alfred (his butler) and his childhood sweetheart — Rachel. This gives us another look on Batman — he isn’t that perfect. He NEEDS help from others, and people are willing to give help. We need to let people help us, and then we will become better.

To sum it up,
Sure, Batman is a fictional character, but I believe he is connected to real problems and real issues that we all face sometimes, and his way of solving those issues is a way we can learn a lot from. If you want my piece of advice for an inspiration boost — take about 6 hours of your time and watch the Dark Knight trilogy. Truly inspiring, truly amazing.

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