I had been a Superman fan all my life. I believe there is truth in those who say sometimes the only reason Smallville does as well as it does is because people are starving to see anything remotely Superman on screen again, that is not animated [zerohero Dec 16 04]. Hope. Justice. The American Way. What are they? They are principles the red cape stood for. They are virtues thinning out in our society. (The American way, in my definition, is the great experiment: a group of people sailing out to the unknown world so they could worship their God without restriction)

After the turn of the Millennium, a couple heart-breakers struck. We have the 911, the 511 in Spain (train attack), the War in Iraq that has been purported as Bush’s way to make money, and the recent Tsunami with death tolls that make mice out of men. It is true terrorists live in seclusion, but their very existence influence the people’s thinking into degenerating the value of being good, against evil. People begin asking, is it really better to be in the goodie-goodie side? Being good is then equated to being vulnerable. Cheating becomes a more likely solution.

Self-protection becomes a primary virtue. That is why, Superman is missed. Smallville shows a character with strength enough to win every gold in the olympics yet chooses to play alone in his farm where he can hurt no one. (In Season four, he starts playing football, but uses energy enough only to make their team win by a point or two.) Everyone knows Superman would get everything he wants if he’d just reveal himself completely. If he’d go all out, he’d rule the world. Instead, he helps in the farm, under the tutelage of the Kents. They taught him about the value of life.

Watching Smallville, I always wondered what was it that set Clark Kent above the others who received special powers in Smallville. They all turned out to be villains. Is it just because he inherited his powers, while the others didn’t? Smallville did not make Jor-El’s character anymore charismatic than the other villains. The answer is the accountability Jonathan and Martha Kent gave Clark, and the support and friendship he gets from those around him. Take away the Kents and Pete, Superman won’t be so super, and just probably be a super-villain. So with the package complete, Clark understood who he is and what his purpose is on earth, two essential questions we should answer for ourselves. And what is his purpose? He is the answer to those who question the value of goodness over evil. His message is, no matter what the odds are, good will always stand taller over evil; justice prevails; and chance favors those who hope in goodness.

Some of you would say, what does Superman have to do with me? In real life, there are no Super-heroes. In real life, cheating is a stronger force than rule-abiding. I say: it is, if you say it is; I believe otherwise. My favorite 2-word-term come last year from an article Newsweek wrote about how New York reacted when they found out, Spiderman is just a kid, and Doc Oc is about to juice him alive. They fronted their flesh and blood and became better people. All of a sudden, things became possible. Newsweek called it ‘communal heroism.’ I hope when Superman returns on the summer of 2006, we could x-ray through his superpowers and discover something inherent in all humans, that we all have the equivalents of kryptonite in our lives, but if we would all just chip-in what we can daily, flying becomes a possibility.