Wednesday, March 08, 2006

My Ideal Superman

Ideal, except that ugly S-shieldMy ideal Superman wears a costume to fight crime and wears glasses to be himself.
My ideal Superman would just as soon rescue a cat from a tree as save the world from a supervillain.
My ideal Superman smiles.
My ideal Superman still inspires people to shout "Look! Up in the sky!"
My ideal Superman doesn't have an indestructible costume, because that would be redundant.
My ideal Superman is an Epic archetype and a Christ figure, but he would never even consider that.
My ideal Superman is smart and perceptive; after all, he is an investigative reporter.
My ideal Superman is the kind of person who would sit down next to a distraught stranger or brooding hero and ask what was wrong.
My ideal Superman doesn't think with his fists, and would prefer to end battles without violence. He knows that violence is all too often necessary, but he doesn't have to like it.
My ideal Superman would lay down his life to save even his worst enemy.
My ideal Superman sees positive qualities in everyone.
My ideal Superman believes that even the worst criminals can be rehabilitated.
My ideal Superman loves. He loves his life, he loves his wife, he loves his family and friends, he loves his colleagues, and above all, he loves humanity.
My ideal Superman is not brooding and depressed. He enjoys his life, and he has a wealth of friends and family. He considers the superhero community friends first and colleagues second.
My ideal Superman is admired by most of the heroes in the DCU, but he sees them as equals and would sit down for coffee or dinner with any one of them. He may even admire them more than they admire him. And he admires normal people most of all.
My ideal Superman believes that there can be such a thing as peace on Earth.
My ideal Superman has been to distant worlds and the depths of the ocean. He has seen the wall at the end of the cosmos and has walked on the world at the center of the universe. He has ridden the Mountain of Judgment through the Zoomways and he has battled beings more powerful than gods. He has been through Heaven and Hell, literally. Despite all this, he is more a normal farm boy from Kansas than a godlike alien superbeing.
My ideal Superman may sometimes come across as naïve, but he isn't. He has seen the worst that the universe has to offer, and still believes in the best.
My ideal Superman thinks of himself as a normal man who is trying to make the world a better place, not as a god or shepherd or king or protector.
My ideal Superman might wish that the world were black and white, but he knows that it isn't. He sees the gray areas and uses his ideals and conscience to navigate them.
My ideal Superman wears bright primary colors because he wants to inspire trust and hope.
My ideal Superman would still be a hero if he didn't have superpowers.
My ideal Superman doesn't play politics. He doesn't endorse particular controversial beliefs, he doesn't choose sides in human wars unless absolutely necessary.
My ideal Superman is constantly struggling with a desire to do all he can to help mankind, and a fear that he may be doing too much, playing god and interfering where he should not.
Pretty ideal right thereMy ideal Superman believes that the "American Way" is not the will of a nation, imposed on others. It is an apolitical, non-partisan ideal of equality, inalienable human rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the belief that everyone can, and should have the opportunity to achieve greatness.
My ideal Superman is noble, compassionate, idealistic, humble, and brave.
My ideal Superman helps people, not because he has amazing powers, not because he feels it's his duty, but because it's the right thing to do.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well said Tom, I couldn't agree more!

JM said...

My ideal Superman cannot fly around the world so fast that he turns back time. Furthermore, were such an option presented to him, he would recognize it as a cheap writers’ gimmick.
My ideal Superman could, however, use a cellophane S to paralyze a villain for a tenth of a second, because my ideal Superman knows that sometimes beating a villain requires making them ask “what the fuck?”