Superman: A Hero In Real Life.

Superman has always been one of my greatest heroes. And I'm not talking about comic book superheroes (although he is that, too). You see, I grew up without a father in my life so, like an increasing number of kids in the world today, I had to look to other sources for an example of what a man should be. I was lucky. Instead of falling prey to the many poor examples that are out there in the media and real life, I latched on to two wonderful role models: He-Man and Superman.

Now, before you roll your eyes and start typing in a new website address to surf, hear me out. For any of you that are even marginally familiar with either He-Man or Superman, this might ring at least a little bit true. Both He-Man and Superman are heroes in their fictitious worlds. Both are driven (and at the same time morally restrained) by a strong ethical code from which they (almost) never deviate. And both of them have sacrificed their own personal desires in order to serve the good of mankind.

To me, that sounded like the qualities of a real man: someone who is a hero in their own small world, whether it be to their kids, their wife/girlfriend, their coworkers, their friends, or their neighbors; someone that has a strong, consistent moral foundation to which they adhere; and someone who is willing to sacrifice their wants (and sometimes even their needs) to help other people.

Sacrifice. That's the mark of a hero. The sacrifice can come in the form of time, means, even money. But a hero is willing to give it to help other people. And a real man is (in my eyes) a hero. And the world could use more heroes. The world could use more real men.

So why am I calling Superman a "real life hero"? I came across an article on the Internet today about how the character of Superman was used in the 1940's to fight the Ku Klux Klan in real life. You can read the article by clicking on this link: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/20794.

The point I originally wanted to make is that popular culture and the media can be used to do good in the world. So much that is undesirable and (at times) even evil has come from movies, television, books, magazines, comic books, the Internet, and radio that it is easy to forget or never even notice the times that good has come from them. And (as in this case) it came from cartoon characters!

However, the point that I hope to make even stronger than that is that I hope we're all living lives that will make it possible for us to be heroes in someone's eyes, that we're actively looking for ways to make a positive difference in someone's life. We might not be able to almost obliterate a fraternity of grown men running around at night in their bed sheets, but we might become part of a young boy's definition of what a real man (or woman) is.

You never know who's watching.