Shoot for the Moon

I love this picture. The little guy in the suit, Jack, is the son of John G. Roberts, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The picture was taken on September 6, 2005 when Justice Roberts was being nominated by President George W. Bush for the Chief Justice post, the biggest legal job in the United States. You can’t get any higher than that if you are an American lawyer.

Little Jack no doubt knew how important this day was to his dad. After all, he was wearing a suit, was probably briefed by his Mom about etiquette and manners, and was in the spotlight of a legion of cameras trained on him and his family. But is Jack standing by at attention, looking all awkward and wanting-to-be-anyplace-else-but-here?

No, he is “shooting the webs off”. Jack’s apparent hero is not his dad, however momentous the occasion for his family and his country. Jack’s hero de jour is Spiderman! And he’s doing his best Spiderman impersonation at that moment in this picture.

Jack is five years old and doesn’t understand, or even care, that there is a lot of complicated physics involved in shooting a web. He thinks if only he tried enough that he might be just get to be Spiderman.

So, I love the picture because Jack is playing out his Dad’s success in Superhero terms. It’s conceivable that John G. Roberts might have had a dream to become Chief Justice. It’s realistic to believe that his chances were minimal, given the fact that there are over a million lawyers in the U.S. No doubt Chief Justice Roberts believed that if you strived hard enough for something, it might come true. His aspiring Superhero Son seems to believe the same thing.

The picture depicts one of my philosophies: “Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the Stars”.

Given the lesson I’ve learned from Jack, I’ll add: “And if ever you feel you might not make it, but you’re just within sight of the Moon, shoot the webs off”!

[p.s. as I researched the links for this post, I learned that the G. in John G. Roberts is “Glover” as in John Glover Roberts. Jim’s middle name is Robert. Jim’s father name was John Robert Glover. Follow my trail: there were two Roberts then in Jim’s family. But John Robert Glover was known to his family and friends as Jack. How cool is that! Jim’s dad truly was a superpower to all who knew him. We hope there is a place in heaven, Jack Glover, where you can shoot the webs off!]