Having the courage to be different

I’ve always been fascinated by Superman. An individual sent to earth to save humanity truly makes for a great story. Beyond that, he was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

In 1933, Jerry Siegel and Jon Shuster created Superman, while they were still in high school. They used him to fight for truth, justice, and the American way; and throughout their early stories, those three ideals were inseparable.

Superman was the first superhero; (Note: Mandrake the Magician was technically the first superhero, but Superman has widely surpassed Mandrake’s popularity.) and he has a massive difference compared to all of the other “superheroes.”

Peter Parker is Spider-Man, and he dresses in a costume to be Spider-Man. Tony Stark is Ironman, and he dresses in a metal suit to be Ironman. Bruce Wayne is Batman, and he dresses in a costume to be Batman. T’Challa is Black Panther, and he dresses in a costume (a massively technical costume) to be Black Panther.

Yet, Superman is Superman, and he dresses in a costume to be Clark Kent. He wears his costume so he can look just like everyone else.

Every other superhero uses their costume to look super, but Superman uses his costume to look average.

It fascinates me, and the most fascinating (and troubling) thing is that he puts on normal clothes and glasses and no one notices that he is super.

Then I think, how many people people do the same thing?

How many people disguise themselves as average because they feel the need to hide their uniqueness? How many people hide what makes them special underneath a thin layer of “normal?”

We are all unique and special. We all have talents and abilities that make us amazing. We all have something special about us that, when used, can change the world; yet, we sometimes (maybe more than sometimes) choose to believe that it’s better to put on the  normal clothes and glasses in an effort to live like everyone else.

We sometimes (maybe more than sometimes) feel that it’s okay to be different, as long as we’re different just like everybody else.

We don’t want to stand out so we follow the trends. We even go as far as to live in neighborhoods and communities where we look (and talk and act) just like everyone else.

We want things to be different and we celebrate when someone else takes a step in that direction, but we are so afraid to take the step ourselves.

Somehow we have allowed society to get us to believe that fitting in is important. We have believed the lie that who we are is good enough, if and only if it fits in with everyone else.

We are on this planet for more than that.

Our differences can change the world. 

Every major accomplishment throughout history has been accomplished by a person (or group of people) who chose to be different. They chose to challenge the “fitting in is important” assumption, and they realized that being unique, being truly themselves can bring about a powerful change.

So be you. Be the best you that you can be. Refuse to be average because it’s okay to not fit in. It’s okay to let your uniqueness shine.

In fact, it’s more than okay so go be super!

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