"Transformers" Taught Me Something...
Happy Monday, everyone!
The good news is that our OBA team members in Florida rode out Hurricane Milton this week safely! The bad news is that some of us are still battling scary health crisis. But the other good news is that we have TWO newsletters this week! We wanted to share a WHOLE article in each of our emails this week. We wrote both especially to encourage you in your daily struggles, whatever they may be.
Hope you are all safe and well!
Cheers,
Ceylan (Editor-In-Chief for OBA Studios)
“Transformers” Showed Me the Power of Having Radical Faith in Your Work
This past week, my husband and I had a lazy Sunday. Exhausted from a month of stress and crazy work schedules, and with one more week still to go, we decided we just needed a movie marathon. Scrolling through our streaming subscriptions, we saw that with Transformers One dropping, all the old Transformers movies starting from back in 2007 were advertised for free on Prime Video. Now, I’ve never watched Transformers because I grew up sheltered. My husband got excited about showing me a part of his childhood, so we settled in with some popcorn for a couple movies.
Admittedly, I cringed through much of the films. Some moments were so cheesy or awkward they were actually unbearable for me. However, in the midst of all the cringe, a line stood out to me that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.
During a somber moment in the middle of the first movie, Transformers, the brave Bumblebee has been brutally captured and is being experimented on by the humans whom his fellow Autobots are trying to protect. Their enemies, the villainous Decepticons, are coming for the powerful AllSpark Cube, which will let them rule the universe. All hope seems to be lost.
Then, one of the Autobots understandably asks his leader, Optimus Prime, “Why are we fighting to save the humans?”
Optimus responds with arguably his most famous line in the film: “Were we so different? They’re a young species, they have much to learn, but I’ve seen goodness in them. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.”
“I’ve seen goodness in them.” Even after being treated so brutally unfairly for their noble efforts, he is still willing to sacrifice himself to destroy the Cube and save the human race.
Optimus’ perspective blew my mind. Especially nowadays, with division and hate between political parties and social groups at a seemingly all-time high and so many people suffering unfairly from wars and natural disasters, I can barely get through a day without having an existential crisis of losing faith in humanity. In a film where the treachery (and stupidity) of human government is so clearly portrayed, I found myself asking at this moment: “How can a robotic alien see any good in humans when we don’t even see good in ourselves?”
Many superhero and sci-fi action movies touch on this same plot line. Alien race threatens to destroy the world, but an unlikely hero stands up and says that humanity is worth any sacrifice to save. The same question comes to mind: on what basis do these Hollywood heroes justify their belief that humanity is worth saving? Even though looking around and finding no hope for humanity to get ourselves out of the mess we have dug ourselves into is super easy, if you look a little closer at our world, there are glimmers of hope to be found.
There are soldiers (just like Transformers’ fictional Captain Lennox) who risk their lives and their chance to live comfortably at home with their young families in favor of safeguarding others. In my own community, countless individuals have made a difference by using their own trailers, helicopters, horses, or mules to transport donated supplies to victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Everyday, people find ways to give their time and energy to lift others up. Mothers and fathers loving each other and their children. Writers and painters immortalizing truths in pieces of art and being brave enough to share them with others. Even something as small as offering an extra smile to someone having a rough time as you go about your day brings light to the world.
Throughout the rest of Transformers and the film’s sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, you see Optimus Prime continue to prove his faith in humans through his actions. He believes in the human protagonist, Sam, to get the destructive Cube away from Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. Optimus stays on Earth after that battle is won to watch over the humans, inviting others of his own race to share the home he has found living as humanity’s secret protectors. When a new threat arises, he sacrifices himself to save Sam from being killed by Decepticons. He trusts Sam–a normal, young, and awkward nerd–to save the world again and again. And again and again, Sam rises to the occasion and, against all odds, helps save the world.
The amazing thing is, we, too, often rise to meet the expectations others have for us. Many times we rise further than we ever thought we could, just because someone told us we could.
As humans with loud inner critics, we have a really good perspective of the parts of ourselves we don’t like. It’s a lot harder to see the parts of ourselves that are amazing and beautiful. When we can’t see the good in ourselves, we need people who can point out our strengths and inspire us to reach higher. Until we can believe in ourselves, we need someone else to believe in us for us.
I’ve experienced this struggle myself. When my boss, Jared, asked me to work with OBA and help him bring his vision to life, I had never dreamed of being capable of contributing to building a successful business. I wasn’t prepared, confident, or knowledgeable enough to have delusions of being anywhere near qualified. But Jared and the rest of the amazing team here saw something in me that I couldn’t see in myself. They called my strengths out for me — named them and made me acknowledge them, too. They offered me a chance to step up and are empowering and supporting me along the way. And you know what? When presented with this opportunity, despite my shock and nervousness, I couldn’t imagine saying no. I don’t think we should ever refuse an offer to grow outside of our comfort zone.
Maybe we all need expectations raised on ourselves. Maybe we need to raise our own expectations for ourselves. Because, just like we have it in us to rise and meet high expectations, we also have an uncanny tendency to stoop to meet low expectations. Why go beyond the bar when we only need to reach the bar — which we have conveniently placed low for ourselves? Now, I’m not talking about doing anything crazy big. Not every one of us — likely not even any of us — will have to save the world in the way Sam did. But we can all strive to become better humans.
Learn more. Heal more. Give more. Sacrifice more. Celebrate more. Experience life a little deeper and search out a purpose that is bigger than ourselves. Who knows what opportunities will come along for us that we can be prepared to rise to?
It is so important to surround yourself with people who are willing to have radical faith in you. People who recognize your strengths, challenge your weaknesses, and tirelessly support you through the ups and downs. You won’t be motivated or empowered to be successful unless you have someone like that in your corner. Through OBA, I hope to be able to prove, like Optimus Prime, that I’ve seen goodness in humanity. I hope I can successfully rise to the occasion of filling my role in this company so that our reach can grow and we can amplify the voices of those who have important stories to tell.
Still looking for your tribe? Join the OBA family! Come along this adventure and follow the call to become the person you are capable of being. We’re here to have each other’s backs and inspire each other to grow and aspire to greater things. We’re going to save the world one story at a time.
I believe in you!
Thank you, this was very inspiring to read! I still have hope in humanity, there many kind people. I wish we could share kindness more.