Today’s Daily Prompt asks: If you could be a famous person for a day, who would you be? Why?
If I could choose to become a famous person, I would be Dr. Gregory House. Not Hugh Laurie (the actor who played the maverick doctor), but the actual character, Dr. House. I love how intelligent he is. The way he approaches his job can be seen as extremely risky, but I admire his confidence. He is not afraid to do and say anything that may offend others. He does almost everything in his own terms. He has a brilliant, yet erratic mind. He believes he is right all the time (like all of us) and he would go to extreme measures to prove others wrong.
I am aware of how busy Dr. House’s day would be, but I don’t mind spending a day being him. I guess I would like the freedom that he earned from being such a genius. I would enjoy that day despite being dosed up on vicodin. I may even enjoy insulting my colleagues!!
What motivates a billionaire like Bruce Wayne to fight crimes and help civilians? Why are we so drawn to this fictional character? As this documentary explains, Batman is both a source of entertainment and a great example of how a man uses his fear as a motivator to help himself and others fight the evil that lurks around the world. As a result of the death of his parents when he was a kid, it is assumed that Bruce learned that everything is temporary including his relationships. He began to take matters into his own hands as soon as he realised that the security that others give him will not last.
The documentary below also discusses the following:
The underlying reason for Bruce’s alter-ego, i.e. why Batman?
Who is the real person, Batman or Bruce Wayne?
Why is Batman the perfect union of the good and evil in all of us?
I’ve previously covered why I think Sheldon Cooper has Asperger’s Syndrome (click here). Despite a multitude of support to my claim in the show, I’ve been told that the producers refuse to comment on this issue. Below are some more clips which I think further shows why Sheldon has Asperger’s:
Sheldon’s hair:
In the clip below, Sheldon is a couple of dates late for his haircut because his barber is ill. The clip below shows how Sheldon prefers routines and predictability- a characteristic common with people with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. He gets his haircut from Mr. Denafrio, and Mr. Denafrio alone.
Sheldon gets a date:
Sheldon struggles to understand the unwritten rules of communication- another characteristic exhibited by people with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. In this scene, he was trying to get a date for Penny, but ends up getting a date for himself because of his lack of grasp of social conventions:
Amy is angry at Sheldon:
Sheldon here was faced with a dilemma: shall he choose his girlfriend, Amy or his new found friend, Will Wheaton? Amy became angry at Sheldon because he did not defend her. This shows how difficult it could be for people with Asperger’s to maintain social relationships. This further highlights how important a role Sheldon’s friends and mother plays on his life.
Sheldon and Amy on a date:
Another scene which shows his lack of social understanding:
Number 43:
In this episode, Howard and Raj stalked Sheldon due to their curiousity about what he does at 2.45pm. What was missing in the clip below is Sheldon’s explanation of why he escapes to that old storage room. He told Raj and Howard:
“…you may not realise it but I have difficulties navigating certain aspects of real life. Not understading sarcasm, feigning interest in others, not talking about trains as much as I want to. It’s exhausting! Which is why for twenty minutes a day, I had to go down to that room, turn my mind off and do what I need to do to recharge… You don’t need to know; you don’t deserve to know and you will never know (what 43 is and what I do)!”
To me, this room is very similar to a quiet room or a sensory room, which some people- especially young ones, use to calm down.
Sheldon asks Penny not to break up with Leonard:
In this last clip, Sheldon shows his good side, asking Penny not to break up with his best friend, Leonard. This shows that despite his struggles with social rules and conventions (he went into Penny’s apartment in the middle of the night), he can still show compassion in his own unusual ways. People with Asperger’s Syndrome may have find a lot of social situations challenging, but that does not mean that they are incapable of feeling emotions that neurotypicals do. They may not express these emotions in the ways that we are accustomed to, but they sure have their ways.
Understanding and Embracing Diversity 