If you do not remember G.I. Joe as a cartoon, basically it was on in the same time block as Transformers. While they were billed as the best soldiers America had to offer and they could shoot a tiny rope from a mile away, they could never shoot a Cobra agent. When a plane’s cabin exploded in fire, there was sure to be a parachute nearby. The original series is currently on Netflix.
The one episode that made the greatest impact on me was “The Germ.” In it, Cobra’s incompetence and inability to cooperate create a giant blob that eats everything in its path. The blob has a sensitivity to vibrations, cannot cross water and can only be killed by cyanide. Of course, you can’t just go spraying cyanide everywhere because it will kill more than just the blob.
Fortunately, cyanide is a naturally occurring substance found in apple seeds. The resourceful G.I. Joe team converts all of their weapons to use apples as projectiles, and they go out to fight the blob. At some point, the team directs the blob to an apple orchard that happens to be bordered by a river.
On the riverbank stand Lady Jane and Shipwreck, the Germ looms ominously over them as it makes its way through the orchard. Shipwreck is throwing apples. Lady Jane grabs his arm and says that it is time to go as the blob creeps closer.
Shipwreck refuses to go. He picks up another apple: “Maybe this is the one.”
“Maybe this is the one.” He throws another apple. Lady Jane tugs at his arm and tells him they really have to go. Shipwreck continues to throw apples and with every toss, he says, “Maybe this is the one.”
Lady Jane finally gets Shipwreck to jump into the water by telling him that they will go out on a date – of course, that date is swimming in the river.
The theory of life that I learned from this is that there is no good time to give up, even if what you are doing is really small, maybe it is the one thing that changes the world for the better. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Cue theme song.
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