Super man

I have yet to meet someone who does not have some sort of fascination with Superman. I should say with super men. I mean, not every one loves the guy in blue tights. Some people are obsessed with Spider-Man Batman or The Flash or Wonder Woman or one of the million other comic book characters. Or maybe it's not a comic book character. Maybe they are from a book or from a movie, but we all have someone that we look at and wish we could be. Some that is enough like us that we can relate, but different enough that they are able to rise above the impossible. Every language, every people, every race, every creed has someone that is super. And just to be clear:

super-

a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, with the basic meaning “above, beyond.” Words formed with super-,  have the following general senses: “to place or be placed above or over” ( superimpose; supersede  ),  “a thing placed over or added to another” ( superscript; superstructure; supertax  ),  “situated over” ( superficial; superlunary  )  and, more figuratively, “an individual, thing, or property that exceeds customary norms or levels” ( superalloy; superconductivity; superman; superstar  ),  “an individual or thing larger, more powerful, or with wider application than others of its kind” ( supercomputer; superhighway; superpower; supertanker  ),  “exceeding the norms or limits of a given class” ( superhuman; superplastic  )

 We have become obsessed with "super" things in our culture. We want everything to be super. The problem is that denies the definition of super. If everyone in the world is super, than no one is. We're just average. But we don't talk about that. We just ask for super-sized meals and drinks. If our TV's aren't 60 inches, there is something wrong. We want all of it. Or none of it. If we don't have the update that tops the last one, we are somehow less (whether we admit it or not). We are constantly in a battle with our friends to top the last story. We want to be super and we want our lives to reflect our super-ness. We want everyone to at least acknowledge our super-ness, if not praise it out right. 

I wonder if a part of it is wired in our DNA. I know I have see one guy get mad when a second guy was good at what he was doing and trying to do a good job because the first knew he was just as smart - but probably more like way smarter than - as the second. Why is it that if we know we are smarter than someone else, they have to know it, acknowledge it and start taking orders from us? Is it because we are trying to prove to ourselves our worth? Are we trying to prove that we are super so that we can stay, so that we won't be rejected?

I know why I want to be super. I want to above it. Everything. I would like to be able to choose certain aspects of life. But most of it I would like to rise above, to not have to be touched by it. I want to hear my wife's heart and act accordingly. I want to say, do, read, live the right things all the time. I want to create useful and purely ornamental things. I don't want to destroy, I want to dismantle with restoration in mind. 
I guess the positive side is that while I am not super, I am able to identify with other people. And some of these things I can still do. I can become trustworthy. I can practice creativity. 

The other side of it is I know someone who is transcendent. He is creative. He regularly shows me stuff that he has made that has purpose other than being beautiful and things that are logical mechanisms. He has to dismantle sometimes, but always with reason and with the goal of restoration. He relates to me; he knows exactly where I am and what I'm feeling. He has dealt with all the issues I have and has overcome them. He gives me hope. For that matter, He is my hope. He keeps telling me not to give up, that I'll be the man that I want to be because someday I'll stop caring about me and forget concern for myself, filled with humility and concern for Him and others. I used to think that meant that I hated myself. It doesn't. It means that I am aware of myself, but not consumed with myself, with my comfort. 

It's interesting; I have always wanted to be caught up in something bigger than myself. I'm starting to think you can't do that if you are only plugged into yourself. Heaven knows, He was connected with Himself and with us.