“Be strong enough to be gentle.”

That’s a quote from Peter Cullin describing how he got the voice for Optimus Prime. Such a simple phrase but such a powerful one. It’s something that when I first heard it many years ago it changed the way I look at leadership. It changed the way I looked at my life, my writing, and everything in between.

His brother Larry was telling him about how to be a real hero. A Captian in the Marine Corps and from this one story I’d venture to say a great leader. He told him to not be a Hollywood hero with the yelling and anger and all that, to be a real hero.

That’s something we should all aspire to. There are so many people in positions of power that have no concept of what it's like to be strong enough to be gentle. Instead, they believe that they have authority just because they say they do. In my opinion, these are more villainous than heroic. It’s a dangerous mentality where you have to prove your strength. People that feel the need to prove that they have power over others will go to almost any extent to do so. Or will go to any extent.

This is why in my writing I do my best to create characters that showcase the broad spectrum of this ideal. I think more people should seek to create characters that can be gentle when provided. We can look at some recent examples that might stand out as unusual when describing powerful characters.

John Wick, the Baba Yaga himself often allowed people to live. To walk away, or gave them an opportunity to decide their own fate. Not typical at all, and a great divergence from the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s action movies. A hero allowing their enemy to live? That would be unthinkable, cowardly even. It stands out in your mind and gets you wondering why someone would do that.

Just something to think about on top of how if someone is really strong they can be gentle.