Something Super

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a superhero-flying around in cape, saving people, fighting aliens and stuff like that. Then life happened and my ambitions veered. Since then I have thought of myriad things that I could become-president, pilot, cartoonist and what not. Finally, I am pursuing engineering and still I don’t know what I want to become. But one thing I know for sure now-what I don’t want to be the rest of my life; a mechanical engineer.

In spite of this, the dream of becoming a superhero never quite eluded my mind. I have always admired them, haven’t we all? At the end of the day, we all want to be a hero, if not superhero, in the eyes of whom we love. I have always been an avid follower of comics and their characters and what I have discovered is that even after all those powers that these superheroes have, they have limits; even after all that ultimate strength, they are vulnerable’ even after all that speed; they have barriers. Their anecdotes are not legendary because of everything super that they have but because they could bear pain without breaking. Take any of the hero, the villain is always stronger and more resourceful. Flash is the fastest man alive yet Dr. Zoom is faster than him, Wonder Woman is a decorated warrior yet Cheetah is better at fighting than her, Green Arrow is the best archer but there is Merlyn who aims better than him, Thor has Loki, Batman has Joker, even Superman has a nemesis who is stronger than he is-Doomsday.

You might be wondering why I am rambling all this here. There are people who keep on asking me why follow something that can never be true, something that is so far from reality. This is an answer to them. I don’t follow these characters with superhuman powers because I am in awe of their extraordinary fictional feats or because I need an escape from reality but because they inspire me to never lose hope. Just before the previous semester, I got an all-time low SGPA and a dwindling CGPA ensued. It was the beginning of pre-final year and such a setback was not at all expected. And when I thought I couldn’t get back in the race I remembered a story. Once Dr. Hurt, Black Glove and Joker ganged up and poisoned Bruce Wayne and then buried him alive beside his father’s grave. They beat up Alfred, and burnt down the bat-cave. They literally took everything from him. Doesn’t it look like a dead end? But he was Batman….guess what he did? He bench-pressed the coffin lid through 600 pounds of lose dirt and literally set himself free from his own grave and then kicked the hell out of those idiots. I tried showing the same perseverance and after one semester I scored my all-time high SGPA. Though I may not have saved humanity by doing this but at least I fought my villains.

Wonder woman once said, “I have no idea where I am going to be tomorrow but I accept the fact that tomorrow will come. And I am going to rise to meet it.” Every night I tell myself the same thing. These heroes have taught me the real meaning of silver lining. They have taught me that you can never accomplish anything without facing adversity. Peter Parker saw his uncle Ben die to become spiderman, Bruce Wayne witnessed the murder of his parents to become Batman, Martian Manhunter watched his entire race getting wiped out, even Tony Stark was captured in a war before he built his armor. No matter how gifted you are, there is someone better than you trying to pull you down. You have to be focused, you have to constantly train, you have to persevere to outsmart your opponent.

Almost all of them have extraordinary powers but my favorite one is their superhuman will to adhere to the path of righteousness. Even though they have all the power in the world, yet they don’t kill people. Even scumbags like Lex Luthor, Manderin or Joker. This teaches me the power of self-restraint, the power to stick to your principles. All it would take Thor a swing of hammer to kill Loki, yet he allows him to live. I live in a hostel and there a number of distractions here, distractions which can prove fatal in the long run like the distraction of drugs and alcohol. Almost all of my friends take them, I refrain myself from doing so because once you step in the swamp, you either drown or come out really-really dirty. Again, I don’t save the world by choosing not to smoke weed but I know I save the trust of my mother who believed in me when she sent me away from her that her son would follow the moral code that she had taught me since I could learn.

You really don’t need to have superpowers to be a superhero. And also you don’t have to save the city to be a superhero. As Batman said-a hero can be anyone. Yes, indeed a hero can be anyone. If you are fighting the devil of procrastination and doing your work on time, then also you are a hero. If you can keep a promise you gave to someone then also you are a hero. If you can dream something and achieve it then also you are a hero. Don’t we all have that inner desire to gain some super power? And the truth is……we all have that power within us to turn us into a hero……we all have something super within us and we don’t have to wear capes to let it come out.