Why We Desperately Need Heroes More Than Ever
My grandmother still tells a story about the day she panicked and thought I had been abducted from her church’s Sunday School because “Benjamin Sledge” was nowhere to be found. However, a small child resembling Benjamin Sledge sat quietly in the classroom where my grandmother had left me. But the name he had given to his teachers was “Clark Kent.”
As a child, Superman was my hero, and I wanted to be him. So much so that I wore Superman pajamas under my regular clothes. I knew that should an emergency arise, my alter ego could step in and save the day. The reason I believed I could help people was because I watched Superman do it. Throughout the comics I read (and watching Christopher Reeves make me believe I could fly), Superman always did the right thing and inspired others towards greatness. In his teenage years, he would stumble to learn how to control his powers as well as the amazing responsibility that came with it. But throughout his stumbles, he found guidance through his adoptive father, Jonathan Kent. When Clark eventually took up the mantle of Superman, he often faced impossible dilemmas. Even when he stumbled, he always worked to correct his mistakes and restore hope towards those who had lost it. He was selfless, kind, compassionate, and yet all powerful. Perhaps the greatest example of his flawless character is most evident in one of my favorite comics ever — Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman — where a dying Superman still shows up to save a young girl from suicide.
But as the times have changed, we have been led to believe Superman cannot exist. 9/11, terrorism, evil politicians, bigoted men and women, racial tension, wars, famine, and human trafficking show us the rampant injustice in the world. As more events like the shootings in Orlando and Dallas happen, Hollywood has even made Superman into a selfish and self-centered character. They’re convinced Superman’s moral compass and heroics is the stuff of fairy tales and has no place in today’s climate.
In the latest Superman movies, Clark destroys an entire city and even goes so far as to tell Lois Lane she is the only thing that matters; all others be damned. Even more perplexing to the ethos of Superman is that he hasn’t lifted a finger to help clean up the mess he made after battling General Zod (which he could probably fix in a day). Sitting through the movies, I watched my hero get reduced to a character fit for Roman mythology. The Romans created gods who squabbled, had petty arguments, and reflected the character and attitudes of mortals. If art imitates life, then the recent Superman films have shown just how much the Man of Steel reflects our society.
AND THEN THERE’S CAPTAIN AMERICA
When I was in my early pre-teens, I turned an oversized frisbee into a shield and painted a star in the middle surrounded by the ever patriotic colors of red, white, and blue. I had gotten into reading Captain America, and since discovering I had no alien DNA (after numerous attempts jumping off my roof in an effort to learn to fly), I figured there might be a chance to become a super soldier one day. I also remember when I stopped reading the Captain America comics because they got weird and I couldn’t follow them (Cap got turned into a werewolf. Not kidding. Also — shameless plug Thaddeus Howze. We talked about this in your Superman/Muhammad Ali article which helped inspire this post). But when Chris Evans took the big screen as Cap, something amazing happened. Whereas Superman was crippled by cinema, Captain America became the beacon of hope the world needed.
In the movies surrounding Cap, we see a character who loves his country, yet stands up against injustice. He consistently works to preserve life, but won’t back away from a fight. He stumbles through moral quagmires, falters, but always finds his resolve and inspires others. In each of the Captain America movies, you’re always rooting for Cap, because he embodies the hope and goodness we know lies dormant within us. He represents the passion and strength we have inside each one of us that can make this world a better place.
In a world with mass shootings, terrorism, and injustice we believe Superman cannot exist and now paint him as a villain. But in that same world, we look to Captain America and hope that a hero like him does exist.
AND THEN THERE’S US
In the 1980’s my father was one of the first people to work with AID’s patients, which, at the time, consisted predominately of homosexual men and women. He simply cared for and loved those many in society deemed damned. There was a lot of fear mongering in the media as people didn’t know if you could become infected simply by touching someone with HIV/AIDs and the LGBTQ community were considered outcasts. Eventually, people in our church found out what my father was doing and refused to sit next to our family. Some went so far as to take a vote as to whether they could stay friends with my mom and dad.
One evening, I found my mom crying in our dining room while talking to my father. She had found out about the vote. Holding one of my superhero action figures, I asked my dad, “Why do you have to help these people?” My father gently knelt and said, “If we don’t help them, who will?”
In the end, my dad proved to be the hero the world needed. But he didn’t try to shout people down, show them how ignorant/intolerant they were, or even badger them to change their mind. He just did what was right even when it was hard. So many of us think we have to prove or justify our actions as to why we’re right. We take on the attitude of the new Superman we’ve created. The one who’s trying to do the right thing, but leaves wreckage in his wake. The one who makes selfish decisions over the common good.
This world desperately needs heroes again. We need to believe that a man can fly, save a young girl from suicide, and make the right choice even when it’s hard. Right now Captain America embodies that hero that we need and reminds us that there is good. That there is hope. That we can rise to be men and women the world looks to for guidance.
And just maybe the hero this world needs…..is you.
“Compromise where you can. And where you can’t, don’t. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right, even if the whole world is telling you to move. It is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say, no. You move.” — Captain America
Ben Sledge is a wounded combat veteran with tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and is a recipient of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his actions overseas. He often travels around the country speaking on a variety of topics. His past speaking engagements have ranged from schools, organizations, businesses, to even the United States Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) . If you are interested in having him speak at your event please contact Barrett Cordero at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau — (BarrettC@bigspeak.com).
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Originally published on heartsupport.com
