You'll Believe A Man Can Fly

Occasionally, I feel like writing more serious works. People tell me that my writings don't have to be filled with attempts at humor in order to be inspirational. This is one such serious writing. Well, at least as serious as a devotional based on Superman can be.

You'll Believe A Man Can Fly

A lesson in: Altruism

You know the story. Even if you hate comic books and popular culture, you know who Superman is. The last son of a dying world, an infant child is hurtled through the cosmos. His rocket crashes in a Kansas wheat field, where he is discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent, two mid-western farmers. They adopt him as their son, and he is from that point known as “Clark Kent.” He is raised with protestant American values. Eventually, he grows up to become “Superman”, arguably the most famous of all superheroes.

It’s a story that has received many retellings, but one thing tends to remain the same in all of them: Superman’s unselfish devotion to helping the people of Earth.

Superman stands out among the “heroes” of American popular culture because of his high moral standards and devotion to helping others. He has no reason to go out to fight evil and pull cats out if trees. The threats he encounters seldom endanger Clark Kent, but he always runs to the nearest phone booth to emerge as Superman, ready to defend the weak and fight for what’s right. Ultimately, Superman lays his life down to save a city full of people he doesn’t even know.

This brings me to the question of the week: What makes a man “super?” Is it his strength? Certainly not, many comic-book villains exist which equal or surpass Superman’s brute force. I say a true “Superman” is someone who cares more about others than about himself, and actively works to help where he can.

Superman has a great many talents and abilities. He can fly, he is essentially invulnerable, he possesses x-ray vision, and he is more powerful than a locomotive and faster than a speeding bullet.

What would you do if you had all that? Would you don a cape and start looking for falling aircraft to catch or bank robberies to thwart? Or would you take your x-ray vision to Vegas and become a millionaire? Perhaps take your super-speed to the football field and achieve world renowned fame?

It all comes down to altruism. Altruism is defined as “behavior by an animal that may be to its disadvantage but that benefit others of its kind.” Essentially, altruism is putting the needs of others before your own.

It’s what the New York City firemen did on 9/11. It’s what Medal of Honor winners show to make them worthy of the award. It’s what missionaries do when they leave the comforts of civilization to enter hostile territory, to try and save those who hate them.

The most outstanding act of altruism in all of history is none other than Christ’s sacrifice. While Superman exists only in fiction, I believe that Christ exists in reality, and he has set an incredible example.

You and I aren’t from Krypton. We can’t fly or punch through steel. Regardless, we do have talents. They can be used to either glorify ourselves or to glorify Christ through helping others where we can. It doesn't require much creativity or effort to find a place where we can be used by Christ. We could use our time constructing a vast material empire that would rival that of Superman’s foe Lex Luthor, or we could spend it benefiting mankind.

The choice ultimately rests with you. Would you rather own a mansion built on sand or a one-room shack built on a rock?

He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? Luke 9:23-25