Cartoon Robot Reveals The Meaning Of Life

"The wicked person flees when there is no one pursuing, but the righteous person is as confident as a lion."
- Proverbs 28:1

"Astro Boy there you go
Will you fight friend or foe?
Cosmic ranger, life of danger,
Everything is GO Astro Boy."
- From the Astro Boy Theme by Tatsuo Takai

One of the most influential forms of popular culture is the Japanese style of animation commonly known as anime. Anime can be seen

• on the various network Saturday morning cartoon blocks;
• as part of adult animation networks such as Adult Swim;
• and in the movie theaters, e.g. the Miyazaki features "Ponyo" and "Howl's Moving Castle".

Along with my fellow baby boomers, I witnessed the beginning of Anime in America, in the humble form of the black and white television cartoon series "Astro Boy" (1963-1966). Created by anime / manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka, "Astro Boy" is a science fiction story that takes place in a future society where robots are commonplace. A leading scientist, distraught with the death of his own son, creates an advanced robot in the likeness of his boy. The robot, named Astro Boy, has human-like emotions as well as incredible strength and the ability to fly. Astro uses his special robot abilities to serve as a superhero, fighting crime and injustice.

The series is an appealing combination of adventure and humor, but the appeal of the show went beyond these elements. The show actually dealt with some serious issues in way that the kids in my neighborhood really respected. For example, Astro Boy frequently had to deal with his society's antiquated attitude towards robots: even though many robots in Astro's world had feelings and intelligence, they were often treated as mere objects by the humans. Growing up in 1960's Detroit, I assumed that this unfair treatment of robots was a parable about racism. Later, I learned that Tezuka's WWII experiences galvanized his disdain of racism, and that his works often include anti-racist themes. Reading Tezuka's anti-Nazi manga "Adolf", I could not help but think of Astro Boy.

The episode that had the greatest impact on us was the final episode of the 1960's, "The Greatest Adventure on Earth" (1966). Towards the end of the show , Astro discovers that a planet-destroying missile is heading towards the Earth. Astro barely has enough time to redirect the missile into the sun, but he cannot do so without being pulled into the sun himself. Our hero saves the Earth and sacrifices himself in the process. I was shocked when I saw our cartoon hero die, but only for a second, for it occurred to me that there was something wonderful about this episode. "Astro Boy" was the only show of that era that trusted the kids of our age to be able to handle the important topic of death. They didn't side step it, they didn't sugar coat it, and they didn't talk down to us. They made it clear that Astro Boy was not coming back from his final mission. I really appreciated the trust and respect that the show's creators had in us kids.

In the 1983 "Sesame Street" episode "Farewell, Mr. Hooper", Big Bird learns that storekeeper and friend Mr. Hooper had died. This episode won accolades for its honest depiction of death in terms that child viewers could understand. Granted, "Farewell, Mr. Hooper" episode handled the topic of death exceptionally well, but it should not be forgotten that "Astro Boy" taught children about mortality over a decade before "Sesame Street" did. Moreover, "Astro Boy" dealt with the even more sensitive topic of the death of a child.

There is something uplifting about the final "Astro Boy" episode: he died to uphold the same principles he held throughout his brief existence. Astro's death was a good death in a way, in that it was the finish to a good and honorable life.

Learning From A Child Who Could Not Speak

"I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."
- Mark 10:15

"Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own"
- from "God Bless The Child" by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr.

Back when I had started college, I worked as a bagger at a grocery store in the Detroit area. The store was near a housing project, and it provided a novel economic opportunity for some of the project residents. A handful of young boys from the project hung around the store in order to earn tips by helping customers load their groceries into their cars. This most micro of micro economies was fueled by pocket change, but that was enough to provide these boys with some treats.

One of these boys working for tips stood out for several reasons, most noticeably because this boy was unable to communicate by speech. I'm not sure why, but his attempts at speaking was unintelligible grunts that conveyed emotions, but nobody could make out the words. He used to communicate with his own set of hand gestures, sort of like a pidgin sign language, that the people who knew him quickly learned.

But what I found most remarkable was that he was by far the most cheerful person I have ever met. He was always very upbeat when working his ersatz job. He was always smiling, and he always greeted me (using his "hello" gesture) with a big grin. I found his positive attitude admirable, and as strange as it might sound, I sort of envied him. At college, I met people from good (sometimes privileged) backgrounds with lots of potential who were miserable. And yet this kid, raised in poverty and with a serious disability, was a constant ray of sunshine. What was the secret of his upbeat view of life?

The cynical explanation would be that his optimism is rooted in naivete; he simply does not understand how bad his situation is. But look at things from his point of view. He really enjoyed helping people, he took pride in doing what he loved, and on top of it, he earned spending money. He sees a lot of positives in his life that most of us would overlook.

In fact, a lot of humanity suffer from unwarranted pessimism. In Bryan Caplan's excellent book, "The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies", Professor Caplan notes that pessimism is one of the more common biases of voters. The public tends to overestimate the severity of contemporary problems, while idealizing conditions in the past and in other countries. Gilbert and Sullivan parodied this bias in "The Mikado", where Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko includes in his little list of potential victims

"The idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone,
All centuries but this, and every country but his own"

Let's face it, most people don't appreciate the positives in their lives until those positives become part of their past. But not this kid earning tips at the grocery store; he fully appreciated life as it was happening. He had a disability that prevented him from speaking, but lacked the common disability of pessimism. I feel like I learned something valuable from him, and he taught it to me without saying a word.