I Can Fly

I have a favorite cartoon from the New Yorker Magazine. It was created by Farley Katz.

The illustration shows a man on an island—one of those stereotypical cartoon islands with the little circle of land and a single palm tree surrounded by water. On the island there is a man. He is dressed in a super hero ensemble; wearing a cape and a shirt with a lightening bolt and boots and he is sitting under the lone palm tree hugging his knees, but he has an excited, wide-eyed expression on his face.

The caption says, “Oh my God—I just remembered I can fly.”

Funny yes, but this cartoon brings tears to my eyes. This is an illustration of recovery. All these years feeling stranded on my tiny remote island of fear, addiction and abandonment, with inner voices that have held me captive, and then it comes to me; Oh yeah, I’m recovering, I have resources, I have new beliefs, and “Oh my God—I just remembered I can fly.”