Dr Alex Tang

Superheroes

Hello little one,

I noticed recently that you are taken up with superheroes. You are running around with your superhero action figures yelling “iron man!” and “spiderman!”  And you have included them in your imaginary play. Instead of the usual tea party I have observed in other children of your age, you have seated them up in a row and with a syringe you serve them medicine! Hmm. I wonder where you learned this from.

You know little one, you are not the only one that is taken up by superheroes. The big people are also taken up by superheroes. They call them celebrities. These are not actually the superheroes that you see in Grampa’s comic books. The big people’s superheroes do not have superpowers. They are good looking and famous.  They are supermodels, sportsman, billionaires, bestselling authors or megachurch pastors. In other words, they are not what the rest of the big people are. Very few big people are great looking, good in sports, very rich, can write, or have the charisma and leadership to look after large churches. Most big people are rather plain looking, overweight, quite poor, have poor reading and writing skills, and have not opportunity to lead others. Yet, these people are buying into the dream that they can be what their celebrities or superheroes are. They believe they can become like them – full of glamour and glory. They put these people on a pedestal and sought to emulate them. They teach their little ones that these celebrities are the role models. I guess in the old days, the big people will make these celebrities gods. Little one, most big people are not happy to be themselves. They spent most of their lives trying to be someone else. That is why there is so much unhappiness in this world. Most big people are not comfortable in their own skins.

Little one, Grampa believes that the true superheroes are not like these big people’s celebrities. Real superheroes are those big people who try their best to look after themselves and their families with whatever resources they have, to the best of their abilities. There is no glamour or glory for these superheroes. Many big people struggle to live day by day, just doing the best with however they have. A wonder woman is the ‘kakak’ who leaves behind a family to work as a maid in a foreign country so that she can earn for her children to have enough food to eat and go to school. A superman is the uncle from Bangladesh who works in the construction site with a lot of heavy lifting, living in frugal crowded condition so that he can earn enough money to send home to his family. These superheroes are willing to suffer loneliness, homesickness, humiliation, and depravity so that their family may have a better life. There are other superheroes too such as the man who is suffering from cancer who trys to be cheerful in spite of his body falling apart; a woman in a loveless abusive marriage, trying to hold it together for the sake of the children; a man who was unfairly imprisoned for daring to speak up for the poor and oppressed; and a person who donate an organ so that another may live. These are true superheroes!

May God grant you, little one, the ability to discern who the true superheroes are. These are the ordinary big people around us who strive so hard to make a better life for others. Do not be deceived by the false superheroes on pedestals that have clay feet. Now, go and play with your batman action figure.