Where Have All the Superheroes Gone?

Last Friday, July 20, was a sobering day for us all. The husband and I had enjoyed a low-key two-month anniversary dinner and movie in our nice little bubble on July 19, and awoke to a Twitter feed ablaze, with horrifying news of the Colorado theater massacre. There have been plenty of theories and assertions about James Holmes’ motives. Was he trying to be the fictitious Batman villain, the Joker? Was he trying to prove a point about chaos? This obsession with who he is and why he did it deters from the big picture — too many lives have been ruined and destroyed by one senseless act of violence.

Media loves to fixate on villains and point the finger at causes, but I think all of this has brought on a much more pressing question — shouldn’t we be trying to figure out where the hero is in all of this? Who is going to balance out the bad with the good?

Maybe it’s just me, but now, more than ever, I believe that each and every one of us needs to step up and take on that role. We can’t wait around for someone else to take on the evils of the world. There is no Batman to save us from ourselves, so we’ve all got to be a little better.

Too afraid to give up the life you know for the good of others? Then don’t. But doing little things, like donating old clothes to Goodwill instead of shoving them in the back of your closet or smiling at a homeless person who looks down and out can go a long way. Keep in mind though that you have to do it for the right reasons. The lonesome thankless hero gets his or her reputation as such because a lot of times, giving doesn’t, and shouldn’t, warrant praise.

But it’s worth it, just the same. What matters is the internal satisfaction you’ll get from knowing you’ve added something positive to this ominous world we’ve created, which can seem far too cold and heartless at times. So in this great time of sadness, I ask you all to do one good thing for someone else, maybe for someone you don’t know.

Spread the love. There’s plenty of pain in this world to go around, and we certainly don’t need any more of it.

24 Jul This entry was published on July 24, 2012 at 7:17 pm. It’s filed under Married Life and tagged batman, Colorado, Dark Knight Rises, evil, good, hero, James Holmes, Joker, List of Batman Family enemies, right, superhero, Twitter, wrong. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.