The Unstoppable Stan Lee

I was sad to have the news flash across my phone this morning and read that Stan Lee passed away. He was 95, but he was one person that lived life right up to the end, and is a lesson to us all in persisting with doing what you love.

He tells a story of how in the forties (in his twenties), he'd go to parties and people would make fun of him for working in comics. They'd ask "When are you going to get a real job?" Fast forward fifty years and he's in Hollywood films and travelling the world meeting millions of adoring fans. He'd come to Australia for ComicCon, well into his nineties!

His other story he told was when Marvel was wanting to wrap up his original characters because sales were down. He asked for them to give him one more year. All the flagging characters were wrapped up into the hugely successful Avengers, and a new life was born. One that we know has turned into a booming franchise.

Even if you don't read comics, you know Stan Lee. As an avid comic reader, I get a fangirl fluster of excitement when his cameo appears in each film.

May we take these lessons of his success into our own lives. Just because we aren't successful yet, doesn't mean we need to give it up. Just because people don't see the value in what we do, doesn't mean it isn't something worthy. Just because it's failing, doesn't mean we need to give up completely on something we love. Nothing is failed until we stop.

It is a lucky man who can say, as Stan Lee did in 2006 "I don't really see a need to retire as long as I am having fun."

While the man is now gone, may his magnicent Marvel Universe continue to make us do just that.

As he himself often signed off, "'Nuff Said!"

Linking with #StayClassyMama #DreamTeam #FridayFeature and #TwinklyTuesday

I'm linking also a reminder that no matter what our role in life, we can use our influence to cry out for what is right. Here are some articles where Stan Lee cried out racism during the Civil Rights movement.