Today, I’m thankful for those superheroes that rise to new heights to change the world around us.
What defines a superhero?
Is it the some innate, physical superpower that allows one to ‘travel faster than a speeding bullet’ or be ‘more powerful than a locomotive’? Or is it the inherent ability to ‘spin a web at any size, catching thieves just like flies’? The recent success of the DC Comics Justice League of America and the Marvel Comics Avengers series makes me wonder if the world really does hinge on the fate of a few superhumans. Such dramatizations lead one to believe that the world would be lost if these few omnipotent beings had not stepped forward to save us from our own pathetic misery.
One man played an instrumental role in helping to shape our love for the modern superhero. Born to Romanian immigrants in New York City in 1922, Stanley Martin Lieber was soon thrust into a life of despair with the advent of the Great Depression. Witnessing his own family struggling to survive in a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, Stanley lacked the means to attend college. Nevertheless, he dreamed big, hoping to one day to pen the Great American Novel. At the young age of just 17, he joined as an office assistant at a small company called Timely Comics, where he ensured the office was well stocked with paper, pencils, erasers, and ink wells for the various comic editors. In due time, his hard work paid off, and he became an interim editor. In his new role, he began writing and illustrating comics until Uncle Sam would call him to active duty during World War II. He’d eventually make his way back to Timely Comics, where he would be charged with creating a cadre of new, bold superheroes that could compete with the ever popular ones being conceived by the illustrators at DC Comics – Spiderman, Batman, Captain Marvel, and Flash.
So, Stanley got to work creating his own vision of a true superhero. However, at the advice of his wife Joan, Stanley gave each of his characters a unique feature – vulnerability. Stanley’s creations were each endowed with human flaws. Ultimately, his ideas materialized into The Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and the X-Men. Unlike the ‘perfect’ nature of Superman and Batman, the heroes Stanley Lieber created suffered from overblown egos, fits of depression, and even outright rage. They struggled to ‘get the girl’ or to ‘earn a living’ in their oft-mundane lives. In essence, his superheroes were, well, humans. Nevertheless, the success of their company, which was eventually changed from Timely Comics to Marvel Comics, would transform our view of the superhero into ‘one of us.’ Yet, they always strived to be better.
So, it should come as no surprise that Stanley would routinely end each edition of his comics with one of the superheroes invoking a characteristic phrase for a call to action: “Excelsior!” This exclamation, which derives from the Latin phrase ‘excelsus’ literally mean to ‘rise up and beyond.’ Sadly, the great Stanley Lieber, who was known to the world as none other than Stan Lee, died on this day (Nov 12) in 2018 at the age of 95 years, after a nearly 70-year career as the world’s most famous creator of superheroes.
What Stan Lee taught us is something we already know. Superheroes really live among us. They are not endowed with the traditional superhero conventions one might think. Rather, they possess powers that are so much more relevant than superhuman strength or laser vision. They are the health care professionals who ‘rise up’ when a new pandemic, such as COVID-19, unleashes a plague on our vulnerable communities. They are the volunteers who ‘rise up’ by sacrificing their evenings and weekends to feed the impoverished and homeless in soup kitchens, or to provide social support to a young child who does not have a father. They are those who ‘rise up’ to spend their weekends serving in the National Guard or perhaps beautifying our parks and other recreational spaces. And, of course, they are the first responders – the police officers, fire personnel, and emergency medical technicians – who ‘rise up’ to rush into the danger, when everyone else is rushing away in the opposite direction.
Today, we commemorate the 7-year anniversary of the day when the One World Trade Center building, at its symbolic height of 1,776 feet, was judged to be the tallest building in America. The structure stands as a fitting reminder of the horrific events that transpired that fateful day on September 11, 2001. Thousands perished that day when two massive airliner jets were ruthlessly commandeered into the World Trade Center, eventually toppling the massive structure and all that was within it. More than 400 of those who lost their lives were not even in the office towers that day when the planes crashed into the steel edifices, bur rather chose to rush to the scene to help in the aftermath that ensued. Those first responders who lost their lives are the true superheroes, and the new One World Trade Center rises high in the sky as a fitting reminder that we will never forget why and how they perished.
Today, I’m grateful for all who sacrifice on behalf of others. They might not adorn capes and leap tall buildings in a single bound, but they do something so much more. They rise up to heights beyond those of a skyscraper to remind us of all that is good about humanity – courage, selflessness, empathy, and resiliency. So, to all those first responder heroes, whether you are a triage nurse in the emergency room or a police officer walking the beat, I exclaim my simple, single word of encouragement:
Excelsior!
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