Sometimes I wish life was like a comic book. I look around and the while world is a bloody mess. We have a president who has a government shut down for 35 days over a wall. We have clubs, concerts, newspapers and schools being shot up. We have people afraid of cops. We have women whose rights over their body’s is being threatened. We have this fear of a terrorist attack. We act like a another shooting is normal. That all the death and despair is normal. I look around and it’s just so much horribleness. It’s sad. It makes me angry.

But it life was a comic book. . . .

Captain America would have our president gone, shielding us and showing us and the world what the United States really is. He and Superman would team up and raise everyone’s spirits, uncovering all the corruption. Tell the world that this is not who we are. We are better than the people you see in our government.

Batman would end all the gun violence with one single Batarang. Or perhaps the Punisher would show the criminals how to really use a gun.

Spiderman and Daredevil would stop muggings and robberies while little boys and girls look on with wonder.

The Runaways would come to classes and show that sometimes family is more than blood. That sometimes you have to stand up to your family.

Teen Titans and Young Avengers would show all the awkward teenagers that hey, they can change the world too.

Wonder Woman and Black Widow would fight not for women’s rights, but for everyone’s rights, with their team right beside them.

The LGBTQ community wouldn’t have to worry about being persecuted because heroes like Batwoman, Midnighter, Northstar, Wiccan, Hulking, The Question, Thunder and Constantine would proudly stand up with their respective partners, proudly showing their rainbow colors. With no shame. Teenagers all around would see these heroes being out and proud and they wouldn’t be afraid anymore of being gay, lesbian, queer or transgender.

If life was a comic book, sure there would a Darkseid or Thanos but at the end, we would know that the Justice League and the Avengers have our backs. They will protect us.

Life isn’t a comic book but sometimes that’s what we need to believe. Sometimes we need to step out of reality and into fiction and see that there is a happy ending. It might take a few issues and cliffhangers but we’ll get there.

We need that hope in a world like ours. We need to know that there are heroes doing their best to help us. And sometimes, we need to realize that there’s a little bit of a hero inside all of us.

-K