The Reality of being Super

" What is the meaning of life?", I ask myself," Do we wander around Earth just to be like everyone else? Or are we meant to be more than just an infinitesimal speck in the Universe? Should we create something and leave behind a legacy?”

These are some of the things I was asked during my philosophy class. Part of the reason why I took philosophy was to broaden my horizon and learn more about the meaning of life. My professor was Dr. Schwartz-a famous, world-renowned philosopher who had the respect and admiration of some of the most prestigious scholars and universities. His class was the perfect choice for an ambitious undergrad majoring in the liberal arts.

Most people don’t realize the importance of philosophy. When I ask myself deep, insightful questions, I feel powerful and I gain a sense of purpose. When I asked myself, “ What do I want to do in the future?”,I started making a list of things I wanted to do before I die. These things included skydiving, parachuting from a skyscraper, going to space, eradicating cancer, and creating world peace. I realized I wouldn’t get anywhere by idling around so I read everything I could about viruses, international peace treaties, astronomy, and military skydiving. 

I eventually realized without inhumane powers I couldn’t become the Renaissance man I always dreamed of becoming when I was a little child. When I was just five I had gone to this little movie theater where you could go and just watch any movie for five bucks. I watched a movie about a man in a cape; He had amazing physical and mental powers guys like me would kill for. He could lift a school bus with his bare hand and if he had any trouble with being late to work or there was a traffic jam he could fly across the horizon in his cape and change back to his working clothes. In addition, his IQ was off the charts and he could always outsmart and outhink his opponents.

I always wanted a superhero in my life. I grew up in the dumps of a big city where the only glimpse of hope that I had was from my ability to read people. It became very useful whenever I ran into some very bad people. When I was six I came across a mean group of thugs on a street in broad daylight who asked me if I had any money. I told them I didn’t have anything but the strangest thing  happened when this guy who just asked me the question just answered me back, “ I wish you had at least something so I could leave you alone”, without opening his mouth. Without a second of hesitation I threw away my five dollar bill and the guy who just “talked to me” decided to leave with the rest of his gang.  I thought it was a very strange coincidence at first but then the day after I noticed another thing that happened at school. I had a very mean teacher Mrs. Schneider. She hit our palms using a ruler whenever we were out of line. I hated this woman. In hindsight she was just going through some tough times and that’s exactly what I found out when one day she came up to my desk and took my notebook away because I was doodling instead of doing homework. As soon as she gave me this glance, I noticed something very different. She talked to herself as if nobody was in the room. I learned that she was going through a tough divorce  Momentarily, I felt a sudden urge to talk to her even if I got out of line. I told her- and these were my exact words- “ Mrs. Schnendier, I hope I’m not out of line here but you love your husband and if you really want to be happy you should go after him”. For some God-knows-what reason, she started crying. I couldn’t believe it. Well after that I never had trouble with people because I always knew how to deal with them.       

Fast Forward a little, I found myself working as a political consultant for a guy who’s running for mayor in a small Midwestern town. I met people on a regular basis and I asked potential voters questions about how they feel about the candidates and I made sure I convinced key voters that the candidate I worked for was their best choice. The job was a breeze and I can’t believe I had worked my way up to become a campaign manager. However my life has never been a walk in the park; I was constantly hearing voices from hundreds of different people that I never met and the only way to stop hearing these voices was to completely isolate myself where no one was around. 

It seemed my life was like a paradox; I had always dreamed of becoming a superhero but even with this amazing power I felt trapped like a rabbit inside a deep hole. I was yearning to leap out and find something meaningful to do. I remembered from my college days when I spent a lot of time thinking about what I want to do in the future. This made me realize that I could do extraordinary things like become a caped vigilante. 

 “ This is it”, I told myself. “ This is what I want to do. No more waiting. I’m going out there and I’m going to help people in need.”

 I signed up for a poker tournament in Las Vegas. Despite the myth that poker is all about luck, it also requires an ability to read your opponent and you could already guess this came in very handy for me. Now I know what you might be thinking, “how are you helping anyone by entering the biggest poker tournament in the world?” Well the answer was simple, I wasn’t helping anyone at the time, but with the money I won from this tournament I was going to donate it to a good cause.

The competition was lackluster and I never had trouble winning. There was one player whose mind was like an open book; Anytime he had a good hand he always ‘told me”, “raise, raise, raise’ it was like a piece of cake. To make sure I didn’t have security on my tail, I lost a few rounds to give people the allusion that I wasn’t cheating. Once the competition was over I had a million dollars in my bank account and I became an overnight sensation. I decided to give all that money away to the sick and the poor in my community.

That’s the story of my life so far.I can still hear people,  I can still beat anyone at poker, I can still convince people to vote for a Republican, I can still make people laugh because I know can find out their sense of humor; What I can’t do is waste this talent on something stupid. I’m very optimistic about the future and with my power I’m really going to do something great.