16510--Down from On High

 When I was informed that we had calculated that the course of a big, nasty asteroid (Apophis) would bring it into our back yard in 2029 and possibly hitting us in 2036, I was...well, on the fence about whether or not we should be concerned.  I mean, we're in the 21st century and I still can't even get weather information I can count on for the same day.  Now they're trying to sell me on a prediction two decades out?  I checked a mirror.  I do not have "SUCKER" on my forehead.

The way they're telling it, our best case scenario has the rock passing between Earth and the moon (which is pretty close for that sort of thing); worst case says we're looking at quakes, tidal waves, floods, plague, famine, death, destruction...you see where this is going.  Be concerned if you want to be or don't (but so you know, we're looking at 99.9993% chance of a miss).  Either way, I'm not betting on the government to handle things.  The government really only seems to handle disasters well in fiction and even then the track record is shaky.

As that sort of thing goes, we'd be better off with Superman.  I know, a lot of people love to put all their stock in Batman and I don't want to take anything away from the Dark Knight's street cred, but playing head-kicker with serial killers is vastly different from changing the course of mighty rivers.  I've loved both these guys since childhood, but I've always considered Superman to be the superior role model and never had any question that when planes and giant rocks started falling from above, the Bat-signal wasn't going to get the needed help to the right place.  That's not a shortcoming on Batman's part (I won't even make a dig about searching the utility belt for a Bat-asteroid deflector).  Superman just brings a strong game to the playing field.

When problems pop-up, Superman is the superhero to go to.  I'm not talking about a Superman who falls back on some lame time-travel "solution", creating a paradox where he can just pretend bad things aren't happening.  I'm talking about a super man, who oozes noblesse oblige without even knowing it, gets hands-on and gets things done.  Superman came to us with not only compassion, but a passionate desire to help us find the best part of ourselves.

That has probably always been one of the most essential virtues of the heroic Kryptonian immigrant: he unselfishly wants to help everyone.  It's really sad to me that so many people have expressed some inability to relate to him.  I think it saddens me because it displays an inability to acknowledge the brighter virtues within ourselves.  If anything, Superman shouldn't seem unreal and alien, but an inspiration.  He should represent a standard to which we should aspire.  WWSD?  The right thing, of course.

 Superman has always been the champion of the people.  He's not from around here, so we all look alike to him.  He never plays favorites, he just helps people live their lives without interference from others.  He's a freedom fighter.  Even more than that, he wants everyone to have a chance to just get through their day.  When it struck him that a great many of Earth's people couldn't even count on having food every day, he made an effort to change that.  Unlike any other single person, his herculean effort to provide food for the hungry for a single day drew such attention that it inspired a tremendous outpouring of supplementary aid from other people.  He remains mindful of a hero's function as a role model, a status he holds probably beyond any other iconic figure.

Like many heroes before and after him, he's an orphan.  Still, he has always allowed the circumstances of his origin to add to his strength and his strength of character.  After the better part of a century, he has continued to spark the minds and souls of young and old alike.  We should expect nothing less from someone who has descended from a world of wonders to live and walk among us.  Even the appeal of innocent Billy Batson's transformation to the purehearted Captain Marvel takes a back seat to Superman's, whose virtuousness is that of an uncorrupted adult.  He is not a naive child in the guise of a man.  Superman has walked the Earth and seen what it has to offer.  He has made informed choices and refused to be led astray.

 Many believe that Superman's appeal lies in his power.  Some even feel that he wouldn't be a hero without his superhuman powers.  That's short-sighted, I say.  Predecessors to Superman such as Hugo Danner in Philip Wylie's Gladiator and pulp hero Doc Savage would certainly indicate otherwise.  Danner was born with powers similar to Superman's, but lived a miserable life in which he felt himself a misfit among humanity, never found a purpose for his special abilities and died alone, miserable and unfulfilled.  Doc Savage, closer to Batman than Superman, possessed wealth and drive, honed his body and mind to such extremes as to seem nearly superhuman and found his way in the world fighting the forces of evil.  He had no special powers, but he had a drive to be the best he could make of himself and to help others unselfishly.

Superpowers or not, I'd rather be in a world with people with the heart portrayed in these people of conscience, these people who seek only to help and ask nothing in return.  No matter who they are--Wonder Woman, Batman, Spider-Man, Doc Savage--or how many they come to number, Superman will ever stand steadfast at their forefront.  He is recognized around the world and knowledge of his mission has spread with him.  Superman fights for freedom and justice, possesses both power and humility of incalculable measure, all the while setting examples for us to emulate.  Like us, he's not perfect, but he also teaches us to never stop striving to become the very best of ourselves.


 

Bringing out the best in...*ahem* Moving along!

             

16346--Born of Tragedy, Tempered by Conflict: Why It Gets Our Attention

I've often heard it said that people love to cheer for an underdog in a conflict.  I also often heard that everybody loves a winner.


Conflict seems to be nourishing to our spirits.  When we can't find it externally, many of us will find a way to generate it internally.  It might be as simple as suddenly wanting to do something we've just been told we can't or wrestling with eating food that's bad for us.  If we're willing to fight with ourselves for the sake of having a fight, I'd say that demonstrates dedication to a principle.  Give us a few brief moments of cherished contentment in our lives and those of us stable enough not to run about sparking artificial drama will turn to fiction. 

When it comes to our fiction, contentment is boring.  There's no series of movies about the "Die Hard Family Christmas Vaction", "Lethal Weapon: Still More Paperwork" or James Bond's latest foreign affairs briefing.  The phrase "Death at the box office" comes to mind and it has nothing to do with the high body count of the latest action flick.  Conflict builds character and characters drive our stories...often at very high speed.  "The Lord of the Rings" isn't about Gollum admiring jewelry in the solitude of a cave.  The story didn't get moving till he lost it and experienced conflict with others and himself.

Tempering metal stresses it with heat to create a stronger metal than one left in its natural state.  Tragic characters draw our attention, those who have survived stresses that tested them and produced stronger characters.  Ahh, those underdogs...There's just something about them we can't resist.  In the comic books, they've been feeding our popular culture for decades.  There's a mighty mutant superhero spawned during the sci-fi surge of the fifties who was tough, strong, genius-smart and a psychic powerhouse.  He fought a war in the shadows, defending us from alien invaders.  His name was Captain Comet, a good and decent fellow with a happy childhood.  He had power handed to him, always fought for good and left Earth to continue his adventures in space.  Never heard of him, huh?  *sigh*

Yeah, he didn't catch on as well as the superhuman orphan from Krypton.  He had no real people of his own because his whole planet had blown up.  He championed the poor and helpless against crime and corruption.  An orphan and an immigrant, he could never go home, so he worked hard to do his best in a place where he'd never quite fit in with the natives.  They would call him Superman.  He caught on.

Start with a ten-year-old boy and stick him in a wealthy family with doting parents.  Hey, it's Richie Rich.  Now, orphan him by ruthlessly murdering his parents before his eyes and you're on the road to turning Bruce Wayne from a doughy playboy into a caped crusader engaged in a relentless war against criminals.  On top of that, the only significant romantic relationships he can seem to develop have come from the criminal community.  They're hardly stable, but Holy Romeo and Juliet! talk about a conflicted character.  Has he collected adoring fans?  You bet.  Nobody seems to hold being a rich guy against him.  He's tightly wound, calculating, bad with relationships and will let his relentless determination carry him to the extremes of his abilities to win.

Likewise, people don't seem to mind little boys being powerful, yet poor...and orphaned.  Billy Batson barely has name recognition, but look at how many people know the word Shazam!  We've got a soft squishy spot for orphans.  Orphans have issues.  They lack foundation and identity.  Whatever else they may have going for them, not having their parents puts them at a social and perhaps a psychological disadvantage.  Peter Parker was a smart kid, but an orphan and when power fell into his lap, he still made bad decisions.  He had to suffer some additional loss before we stood firmly behind him.  The budding Spider-man had to not only be an orphan in a poor family, he had to lose his surrogate father as a result of his own failure to act for his character to really take a firm shape.

It seems to be inherent in our psyches.  Most people are attached to the dream of obtaining something for nothing, but we always look for the "catch".  We know there's a price that must be paid for the "free" lunch.  You can have your wishes, but any decent genie will tell you that they come with consequences.  In alchemy, they called it the Law of Equivalent Exchange.  To Shakespeare, it was the straw he spun into gold to gild the human condition.  His work continues to resonate through us because he found elegant ways to share with us the truth that we are creatures of conflict and struggle.  We neither trust nor respect anything that comes too easily.  How often have we seen power and wealth that came without work and wisdom squandered by the recipient?  Like Adam and Eve, we won't stand for being handed paradise and perfection.  Something in the depths of our beings has to feel that it has been earned and deserved. 

Our natures shape our works and our lives.  As Spock once said, "Having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting."  For us, striving is clearly a bit more important than attaining.  The journey is more important than the destination.