Challenge Submission The Musings of an Ordinary Person who would like to remain Anonymous

[Alex Gold]

Man I dont like it. People are just so demanding. They always say, Save the day! Save the day! We'll be eternally grateful to you! And when I save the day, they don't do anything at all to celebrate the fact that I saved them. But I don't want to be like Homelander, you know. That Boys show really tanked the reputation of the heroes for sure. Like I'm not a pervert. I'm not like a sex pest or like secretly evil. Like I'm not. I don't know why people don't seem to get it. But it's like if I get a little annoyed everyone is like, "Oh, he's Homelander now. He's totally going to do a Homelander let's all take our phones out and record him doing a Homelander. And I'm not going to do a homelander, okay. I'm a good guy. You think because I've saved people, they will say he's nothing like Homelander but no. They believe tv rather than real life. It's very disheartening.

I'm sure if I say this out loud to someone, someone will be like, "Oh, he's saying he's not a Homelander which means he is a Homelander", so of course I'm not going to say it out loud. And sometimes they compare me with Omni man too, and I'm nothing like that guy either. He killed like a lot of innocent people, and I haven't done that at all. I don't get what I'm supposed to do. It's not like I can stop having super strength and flight. But just because I have those powers, people compare me to those monsters. You'd think more people would compare me with Superman. You know, the actual superhero that I'm most like. But noooo. Why would anyone do that? Why would anyone try to do anything sensible? Even when they compare me with Superman, they just say that I'm evil superman and that's not true. I help people. I help everyone. I'm not evil at all. I'm like the good Superman- or just like normal Superman. Man, I'm feeling pretty bummed out. Maybe I need just a plain vanilla ice cream and just chill for a while.

Maybe if there was an actual evil version of Superman, and I defeat him then people might be like I'm not evil Superman. I don't know. The problem is that there aren't any supervillains around for people to compare me with. I mean there are villains of course, but it's mostly just a lot of people waving guns around. Ordinary people waving guns around that is. The whole situation is usually resolved in like five minutes. Maybe because the bad situation isn't dragged out for too long, so the news doesn't report on it and so ordinary people don't know about the good I do.

There I go- wanting Super villains and longer bad situations. Does that make me a monster? Does that make me Homelander? Well, no, it does not. It was just a hypothetical that is in my head and will not be spoken aloud to anyone at all of course. If a Super villain really appeared of course, I'll want to deal with them and try to resolve the situation in five minutes. Okay, I'm being a bit arrogant thinking that a super villain can be dealt with the same way as an ordinary bad guy. Just a big ego on me, huh? Just like Homelander? Okay, I'll give it ten minutes. See, I don't have an ego as big as Homelander. I should stop being bothered about him and all the other evil Superman clones. So, what if there are tv shows out there where a person with my superpowers is the bad guy. That isn't the case in real life, now, is it? I should focus on doing good in real life and forget about dumb tv shows that will be forgotten after like ten years.

I need to remember what my master used to say. I save people and I shouldn't expect any reward at all or any thanks either. I shouldn't get angry if I get hate either even if I saved them. I need to save them for saving's sake. Why do I do what I do? Because it was what I was born to do and I'm happy to do everything in my power to save the day. With Great Power comes Great Responsibility. Come to think of it, my master totally stole that from Uncle Ben in Spiderman. I don't know how I didn't notice that before.

Besides, it is just like me to focus on just the negatives. I need to focus on the positives as well. What about the kid whose cat got stuck in a tree and you helped him out and he tried to give me his balloon as thanks? I refused of course, but that was a good gesture from someone I saved. Or how about that time I saved the train from going off tracks and people thanked me and said were crying all over me and saying thank you over and over. Or how about that bank robbery that I stopped, and a banker tried to give me money which I refused of course.

See, I only highlight the negative experiences and downplay the positive ones. I need to remember that I save people because it's something that I want to do and I feel great doing. And that doesn't change if a person is being mean to me. I need to be happy to be able to help others. I need to be happy that I could make someone's day by saving them. And I need to make sure that I never ever, become like Homelander.