Birds of Prey – Get Back Up

Ever been beat up? Badly?

Maybe not physically. I’ve actually never been beat up that way.

But have you ever been beat up by life? By the day-to-day disappointments and trials and struggles you never seem to win?

Maybe other people don’t see it. Maybe you put on a brave face and a smile so nobody knows how bad you’re hurting. How weak and helpless you feel when nothing seems to work out for you.

Maybe you’re just tired of trying.

I recently started reading the original Birds of Prey comic, which started as a one-shot story in which superheroine Black Canary has distanced herself from her long-time boyfriend, Green Arrow, and struck out on her own in Seattle. Unfortunately, tough as she is, she can’t seem to find a way to deal with mounting bills and a decreasing sense of purpose.

Until she gets a mysterious phone call from someone called Oracle, who offers her a job fighting international criminals, promising to provide her with tactical support via communication through a two-way earpiece, along with funded travel and equipment for each mission. She jumps at the chance to do something worthwhile, using her crimefighting skills and getting fully funded for it! together, Black Canary and Oracle make quick progress investigating their target, until a martial arts enemy named Lynx beats Black Canary to the ground, all the while berating her for her limited skill and understanding of who or what she’s even fighting. At this point, Black Canary finally gives in to the pressures of life and decides it’s better to stay down. She’s endured too much, faced too many disappointments. Failed too many times.

Oracle won’t have it. She orders Black Canary to get back up and fight. To convince her, Oracle reveals her personal secret: she is Batgirl.

Or she was, until the Joker shot her and left her wheelchair-bound. Now all she can do is gather intel and issue instructions to Black Canary, to do the things she can no longer do herself. Like fighting the baddie who’s knocked Black Canary down for the count.

Black Canary listens, recognizing she’s not the only one hurting badly. Realizing she can still fight.

She doesn’t defeat Lynx this time, or stop her enemy from destroying an entire village for personal profit. But she and Oracle quickly track the villains down and turn them over to the authorities before they can harm anyone else. Seeing there are bigger causes to fight for, and that she can be a part of it, Black Canary continues her partnership with Oracle, ready to be her arms and legs in the fight for justice.

We all get knocked down by life and our own limitations. But it doesn’t mean we can’t succeed or try again.

You’re not done yet. And whether you see them or not, people are counting on you.

Get back up.