What if?

[Mythsaje]

Asking this question is my job. I ask it all the time, day in and day out. Every time I sit down at the keyboard and reach into my imagination for the next installment in one of my ongoing series, I have to ask it. And I have to come up with the answers.

And now, after watching the 4400 on DVR, I find myself wondering anew what the world would be like if extraordinary abilities DID arise in otherwise ordinary people. It's a question I asked myself as a kid, when reading through the comic books. It was a question I asked myself when I sat down to write my first series. And now I'm asking it again as I see the correlation between the real world and the fantastic worlds of both the 4400 and the Civil War series in the Marvel universe.

What if there were superheroes, and super villains? What if there were men and women of astounding intellect who invented death rays and other weapons of mass mass destruction and tried to take over the world?

Not that these things are really necessary, but they add a bit of drama and surrealism to the picture. Holding the world hostage doesn't require a death ray. It just requires a complicit media and a complete lack of personal integrity.

Some superheroes would be nice. Captain America, Superman, Spider-man, or, heck, even Underdog. Someone to whom the news agencies would flock and who could raise a fist (or paw) in defiance to say "Some things cannot stand."

What if we had someone like that? One, or thousands, who represented the greatest aspects of humanity, who had gifts like we could only dream of, who could stand up to the villainy of would-be tyrants here and abroad and tell them, in no uncertain terms, "this will not stand!"

What if?

I find it interesting that in the Marvel Universe, when confronted by the reality of the Superhuman Registration Act, the former super-soldier, hero of WWII, battler of the Nazis, the star-spangled hero Captain America stood in opposition, decrying it as a complete betrayal of everything he stood for as an American Icon.

I like to think Captain America would also stand against this administration for the same reasons.

And Superman? "Truth, Justice, and the American Way?"

This most powerful hero would never stand silently by while the United States bullied its way across the globe.

But the fact is, there ARE no super heroes, and the super villains need no super powers to be dangerous. They only need ambition, greed, and the willingness of others to make excuses for their excesses.

They have that in abundance.

But to be a hero all anyone needs is to reach the point where he or she stands up and says "This will not stand!" And be willing to face the consequences.

So, if the worst comes about, and things shape up the way some people fear they might, only one thing is required of each and every one of us. We cannot rely on super heroes to save the day. It will require everyday heroes.

People just like you and me.

Because that's all we've got.

[veness]

1. Yes, it's up to us. Thank you Mythsaje. n/t