The character Rorschach from Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” always fascinated me. I’ve always been a fan of the comic and the extraordinary character building and socio-political commentary woven into it. And Rorschach has always stood out the most.
I’ll leave it to Wikipedia to explain Watchmen for those of you who don’t know:
“Watchmen depicts an alternate history in which superheroes emerged in the 1940s and 1960s and their presence changed history so that the United States won the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal was never exposed. In 1985, the country is edging toward World War III with the Soviet Union, freelance costumed vigilantes have been outlawed and most former superheroes are in retirement or working for the government. The story focuses on the protagonists' personal development and moral struggles as an investigation into the murder of a government-sponsored superhero pulls them out of retirement.”
And some background on the character:
“While Watchmen has an ensemble cast, many consider Rorschach to be the protagonist as he drives most of the plot forward and serves as the series' narrator. In the beginning of the story, he is introduced as the only masked vigilante to remain active on his own terms and initiative, a criminal outlaw as opposed to other former superheroes now covertly employed by the U.S. government. A ruthless crime-fighter, Rorschach believes in moral absolutism—good and evil as pure ends, with no shades of gray—which compels him to seek to punish any evidence of evil at all costs. His mask displays a constantly morphing inkblot based on the ambiguous designs used in Rorschach inkblot tests, also his namesake, with the mask's black and white coloring consistent with his sense and view of morality.”
If you’ve seen the film, Rorschach comes off as a badass (and mentally unstable) vigilante with a traumatic past who doesn’t take shit from anyone. In the comic as Moore wrote him, he is a satirical example of moral absolutism. Rorschach makes his own rules of morality and enforces these views on the world. While I agree that this type of thinking can lead to horrific ends (i.e. the Crusades, WWII), there can also be tremendous power in uncompromising principles. Let’s take a look at this.
First let’s get this out of the way - I believe in objective morality. It is not decreed by any man in the sky, nor it is not a set of rules handed down from a society from long ago. It’s an innate knowledge we possess as humans that evolves with us as we evolve. Jesus did get this one right: “Do onto others as you would have them do unto you.” It really is that simple. And the reason for doing this isn’t just to “be kind”. As Erich Fromm so eloquently writes in “Man for Himself: An Inquiry Into the Psychology of Ethics,” ethics and morality arise naturally from man as a social animal. For an integrated man who is actively engaged in the process of realizing his potentialities, morality and ethics emerge organically. And this just makes so much sense to me - the worst things I’ve done in my life haven’t been because of anyone else. I hurt people when I’m hurting, when I feel misaligned with my purpose, when I’m not striving to become what I know I’m supposed to be.
Where Rorschach gets this wrong is the enforcement of this principle on others when he deems it necessary. Jesus’s maxim doesn’t quite include that part. That’s where ego comes in - vengeance and revenge are ways for the ego to tip the scales back in it’s own favor. But it never works like that. Pain breeds more pain. The righteous path is to let go, difficult as that may be. From my own experience, I know how hard of a pill that can be to swallow.
What Rorschach does get right is his unflinching belief in his principles despite what the world says about him or how the world views him. As I’m only now coming to understand, this is a necessary mentality to embark on any worthy pursuit. People are always going to question you, shun you , ignore you, not understand you. And it’s not even their fault - pain breeds pain, and the world is certainly full of that. It’s on us to keep moving through the fog, to stand tall in our beliefs and ideas and weather whatever storm comes our way. Some of the most influential people in history were completely disregarded in their lifetime: Galileo was labeled a heretic, Beethoven was misunderstood, Tesla was ignored and died alone in his hotel room. But this didn’t stop any of them. Death didn’t stop any of them. They’re undying dedication to their craft now echoes throughout eternity.
Find something you love and do it. It could be art, music, work, the gym. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you love it. And if you love it, never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon.