Superheroes first presented themselves to the world through comic books. This always struck me as odd being that the word 'comic' denotes something that is suppose to be funny and superheroes and nothing of the sort, (for the most part). Then again when I think about it it makes a bit of sense. Humor is often based off the exaggerations of certain traits. Superheroes are of the same cloth, they are simply exaggerations of certain traits, only instead of taking the more absurd characteristics of ourselves, superheroes take those things that make us noble, good, true and then exaggerate them.

People who are named heroes are often people that we look up to. Sports stars are named heroes for their exceptional physical prowess. Musicians are heroes because of their musical talents. Soldiers, Firefighters and Police officers are heroes because they are willing to sacrifice their lives for the lives of others. Superheroes are suppose to rise above all of these, and we need them to.

Sports stars, musicians and the like are only heroes in small areas of their lives, it has been all to often that these heroes are not the kind of people you want your kids to be like, we would like our kids to have the talents they have, but not the lifestyle that associates with it. Soldiers, Firefighters and Police officers are held high in our moral regard but we all know that they are not all unlike ourselves. That is probably the reason why there still aren't posters of them that kids hang up in their rooms.

Superheroes on the other hand are people (although fictional) that we can look toward and trust in to be the kind of people we want to be. They consistently put their lives in danger to protect the innocent, not unlike our Soldiers, Firefighters and Police Officers. They have incredible talents not unlike Sports Stars and Musicians. Superheroes have that and the moral fortitude that we could only hope for in our politicians.

The stories of superheroes are open to us, their thoughts, their feelings and their doubts. We get to know superheroes better then any other hero presented to us. We empathize with them in their struggle and in turn it inspires us. We will see a superhero give in to selfishness and then have the courage to turn away. We will see superheroes sacrifice all their dreams for the dreams of others. We will see parts of ourselves and what we want to become in superheroes.

We need superheroes because we need to believe and hope that we can be better than we are.

Learn more about this author, Eugene Perry.
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