Why The World Doesn't Need Superman

I wrote this a while back, in January I think. At the time I couldn't post to Blogger because of technical difficulties. Now I can, and so I will.

I know that most anyone who knows me will wonder at the title of this blog entry. You'll say to yourself, "But Superman is Tyler's favorite superhero, why would he write that?" Well, I have very good reasons, but rest assured, Superman still remains my favorite superhero. I was watching Superman Returns recently, and an idea came to me from Lois Lane’s Pulitzer-winning article from the movie, the title I took for this blog entry (I hope I don’t get sued). I use the title more for its real-life application than from an affinity (or lack-thereof) for a fictional being. I've been thinking a lot lately about the status of the world in general. Things don't look good, almost across the board. There are famines, droughts, floods, and other natural disasters that impoverish people and lead to some of the worst living conditions that one could imagine. On top of that, man-made disasters such as war inflict their damage on the world. Part of where all of this came from was from seeing two films, one educational in nature, the other only partly so. The two films that I am referring to are Invisible Children and Blood Diamond. Both films give a perspective of war-torn Africa, and though there is some over-lap, they deal with slightly different material. Invisible Children I saw at Harlaxton, and it made me think about how bad things are in Africa. It was a documentary that told the story of how children are essentially stolen and then brain-washed by rebel factions into becoming mindless killing-machines. That's hard to fathom, children with guns, killing people? How terrible does that sound? The motive behind these groups is greed in the face of poverty. The areas where this takes place are areas that are severely impoverished, and these rebel groups seek to bring themselves above the status quo by overthrowing the government and taking whatever they want. Blood Diamond I saw recently in theaters, and though it was a movie made to bring in a profit, it also had a message about Africa. It talked about the diamond-mining that funds the same rebel armies who are attempting to over-throw the government in order to instate their own autocracy on the impoverished people. The diamonds would be slipped into the world markets, and no one would know the difference. Now bills have been passed so that these conflict-diamonds can be more traceable, and thus when diamonds are bought around the world, more often than not it can be ascertained where it came from, so as not to indirectly fund these rebel groups; the buyer simply has to ask. Blood Diamond also touched on the subject of the child-soldiers, even going so far as to show a scene in which a boy has been so brain-washed that he is willing to kill his own father before the father talks him down and reminds him of who he really is. I couldn’t imagine anything like that. Blood Diamond also takes a pessimistic/cynical view when the main character says that organizations such as the Peace Corps don’t really do anything. They come in and attempt to do something until they realize that the problem is well above their means, and thus they pack up and leave, feeling defeated. I don’t know how truthful this is, but it sure is disheartening. It makes you feel like if they can’t do anything, how can I? I wish that something could be done about these problems, immediately-speaking. We see on the news everyday that more and more people are killed every day in suicide-bombings and other terrorism-related events. More troops and civilians die every day in Iraq, and it seems that we are no closer to the goal of a democratic Iraq run by its own people than we were four years ago. People in under-developed Latin American countries drink water that is mixed with sewage because they have no way to purify it. We drink bottled water by the gallon and think nothing of it. I’m just as guilty as the rest. Here in America and other places of relative wealth, we’ve become apathetic to the needs of those less fortunate. We are too busy doing nothing here in our own country, bickering about the trivial yet apparently paramount differences between Liberals and Conservatives. Even here the less-fortunate are many times no better off, they just happen to live in a better place, and still we do nothing. Everyone seems to be occupied with getting the most out of life for themselves. That’s not to say that there are not good people out there, it’s just more often than not selfishness is easier than going out of your way to help someone. Again, I’m just as guilty as the next person. Everywhere you look you can see disaster and misfortune. However unlike a comic book, we can’t just look up in the sky and wait for a man in tights and a cape to swoop down and save us. Superheroes are great for escapism, to imagine that there are people who could move mountains and travel faster than a speeding bullet. And then these characters use their powers to fight for humanity, for truth, and for justice. We even imagine to ourselves, “If only I had those sorts of powers. What a difference I could make. Then I could change the world." But I think therein lies the problem. We see ourselves as a single person. We can’t fly on our own, nor can we lift buildings, or hear things miles away. We only see our own shortcomings as humans, as a single entity in a world of billions. But one person can’t do everything. Even Superman, if he were a real being, could not do everything to get rid of evil and need. The world doesn’t need Superman; what the world needs are super-men and super-women. Realistically there are no superheroes to speak of. No Spider-Man, or Batman, or Wonder Woman, or Wolverine, or Captain Marvel; these beings simply don’t exist. However that doesn’t mean that there are no heroes. Ordinary men and women can rise above themselves and reach out to help others, in essence becoming heroes; no super-powers are needed. As Aunt May said in Spider-Man 2, “I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble…" We don’t need to be bitten by a radioactive spider in order to make a difference in the world; we just have to want to make a difference, and do our best to do what we can. One person can make a difference, but the more people that there are to help get to that goal, the quicker that that vision can become a reality, for all humankind. So after looking up in the sky and realizing that the object is just a bird, or just a plane, then we must look to ourselves, and find the Superman or Superwoman that is inside each of us, waiting to save the day.