The conclusion of season 1 of the TV show “Heroes” was accompanied by the loud ‘crack’ of my remote control hitting the wall. After finally getting around to watching the show, my favorite character was killed off in the finale.
I’m somewhat amazed a show could inspire such passionate frustration in me, but I admit I became attached to the characters and the general storyline early on.
Since then I’ve been thinking a great deal about why I, and so many others, enjoyed this show so much. Every kid (and secretly every adult) wants to be a superhero. We want some sort of power that sets us apart from everyone around us and makes us special.
But the thing that finally occurred to me is we already have that going on in real life. Everyone has a special skill or talent, so why aren’t we as into these people as we are to the TV-style superhero?
Just like those heroes, people all over use their talents to affect the future and make changes for the better. I think it’s time we recognized the average superhero.
Now I know these talents aren’t as flashy as flying or time travel, but they have more bearing on our real lives. In fact, I’d argue that because they are more useful, they are actually superior to the other kinds of powers.
I think the football team considers the on-the-field skills of Ramses Barden and Jonathan Dally more useful and impressive than if they could burst into flames at will. And I know that I think more highly of my mom’s ability to get 40 high school freshmen to behave and learn the English language than if she could teleport.
There are, in fact, tens of thousands of everyday heroes that we never pay any attention to. They are average people who do a job or provide a service to us and change our lives.
Granted, Marvel is never going to make a comic book about Barden, Dally, or my mom, but does that make what they do any less impressive? I don’t think so; after all, they still do things not many can do.
My point is really very simple. We should stop fantasizing about these fictionalized heroes with exciting but fairly impractical powers and praise the ones that actually exist. Instead of making a comic book about a person who is invisible, let’s make one about a Nobel Prize winner.
So even though every day we see more people setting broken bones and fighting fires than wearing capes and having mild-mannered alter egos, that doesn’t make them any less “super.”
Every one of us can take our talents and apply the superhero principles of good, compassion and justice in our everyday lives. I bet we’d get a much more satisfying result because the benefits would be spread out over a wider portion of the world.
Ultimately, time travel or mind reading isn’t going to save the world. What will save it is each of us realizing what we do with our talents matters and using them accordingly.
Michelle Norgan is a journalism junior and a Mustang Daily reporter.