Revenge of Hump Day 2012-04-04 - LibertyCon

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The April 4 th , 2012 Edition of THE REVENGE OF HUMP DAY!Page 18 of 53year of his own money on Batman toys and memorabilia. He signs every book, hat, T-shirtand backpack he hands out — Batman.Batman is 48. He is a self-made success and has the bank account to prove it. He recentlysold, for a pile of cash, a commercial cleaning business that he started as a teenager. Hebecame interested in Batman through his son Brandon, who was obsessed with the capedcrusader when he was little. “I used to call him Batman,” he told me. “His obsessionbecame my obsession.”Batman began visiting Baltimore area hospitals in 2001, sometimes with his now teenageson Brandon playing Robin. Once other hospitals and charities heard about his car and hiscape, Batman was put on superhero speed dial for children’s causes around the region. Hevisits sick kids at least couple times a month, sometimes more often. He visits schools,too, to talk about bullying. He does not do birthday parties.His superhero work is limited to doing good deeds, part of a maturation process in his ownlife. In his earlier years, he acknowledges that he sometimes displayed an unsuperhero-liketemper and got into occasional trouble with the law for fights and other confrontations.Putting on the Batman uniform changes and steadies him.Lenny B. Robinson, a.k.a.Batman, behind the wheel.(Jonathan Newton - TheWashington Post)“Eventually, it sinks in and youbecome him,” Batman told me.“It feels like I have aresponsibility that’s beyond anormal person. And thatresponsibility is to be there forthe kids, to be strong for them,and to make them smile as muchas I can.” He understands thatmight sound corny, but hedoesn’t care.Batman stepped off the elevator on the fourth floor of Children’s. Spider-Man and WonderWoman were there too — both professional actors from talent agencies, on the clock. Hepicked up a little boy and said, “I have a present for you.” He shook hands with a father andhanded him a yellow rubber Batman bracelet, saying, “This will bring you good luck.” Thefather said, “We need good luck.”The parents always say that.Batman asked each child his or her name. He lifted up almost every child. Many were weak,their hair thin from chemo. He always told them, “I have a present for you.” When a little girlran away, perhaps a bit scared, Batman said, “That’s the story of Batman’s love life.” (He isdivorced.)
The April 4 th , 2012 Edition of THE REVENGE OF HUMP DAY!Page 19 of 53Batman overheard a mother tell someone that her toddler was going home the next day,and holding the toddler, and hugging him gently, Batman said, “I’m really glad you arefeeling better.”Stephanie Broadhead of California, Md., was leaning against the wall while her 10-year-olddaughter Claire was having her face drawn by an artist. Claire has leukemia. Batmanstopped by to marvel at the picture and hand Claire some gifts. “This makes a very hardthing to deal with a little easier,” Claire’s mom said.Superhero visits to hospitals let kids be kids in a scary, adult place, but the activities areindeed therapeutic, too, the chief doctor on the cancer floor told me.“These visits provide an immediate boost for these kids,”said Jeffrey Dome, the oncologydivision chief at Children’s. “Some of these children have to stay for weeks or months at atime. That wears down the children and it wears down the family. You have to keep upmorale. A visit from a superhero is sort of like a fantasy in the middle of all this hard-coretherapy.”As Batman wandered around from child to child, I asked him, “Isn’t this hard?”His children are healthy. My children are healthy.“We are very lucky,” he said. “All I can say is we are very, very lucky.”The party began winding down. Spider-Man changed out of his costume. Wonder Womanchanged out of hers. They said goodbye to Batman, still working the floor, as he posed fora photo with a patient’s father. The father thanked Batman and said, “I saw you on the news— Route 29.”“I think everyone saw me on Route 29,” Batman acknowledged. He asked the nurses at thefront desk whether there were any children who couldn’t come out of their rooms to seehim.Assured that there weren’t, Batman headed back down to his Batmobile, followed by themother of a baby girl with cancer and her healthy 4-year-old son, whose only goal in life atthat moment was to see the Batmobile. When the boy saw the car, I thought his eyeballswere going to separate from his body. (Batman is actually in the process of having a justlike-the-moviesBatmobile built for $250,000, but it’s not ready yet.)Batman revved the engines and blasted the audio system — the Batman theme song. Na,na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na,Batman! He revved the engine some more. The little boy didn’t want to say goodbye, buthis mom told him, “Batman needs to go fight the bad guys.”The little boy cried.“I want to go help him fight the bad guys,” he said.His mom said, “You need to go help your sister fight cancer.”Batman sped away.MY KIND OF BATMAN! UT
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