The Hero

For a child, is it weird to have a favorite hero? Of course not. Every child has a favorite hero. It could be Superman, Batman, the Incredible Hulk, anything. Maybe it wasn't a comic book hero. Maybe it was an imaginary hero that you made up in your mind. Maybe it was your neighborhood policeman. It doesn't matter which kind of a hero it was. The point is that all of you had a hero.

As for me, it was Spiderman. I imagine a lot of kids' favorite hero was Spiderman as well. Apart from the fact that his powers are completely awesome, the up-most reason that people loved him was that without the mask, he was just as normal as us. (Apparently, he was also a genius in Math and Science, but I didn't realize that until much later) It made us believe that we could be superheroes one day as well. So anyway, I seriously loved Spiderman. I had spider-man pillows, blankets, comic books, dolls, toys... I even had Spiderman games on my Playstation 2.

 Mother always told me that I had this weird belief that I was destined to be the next Spiderman. Every night I thought that one day, a radioactive spider was going to bite my neck. Every morning I woke up and tried to web my brother or lift the sofa, just to check if the spider bit me while I was asleep. Obviously, it never happened. (Once I was bitten by a normal spider though. It hurts like hell) 

 In the year 2007,(Which is actually the year the 3rd Spiderman movie came out) I got a Spiderman costume for my birthday. It was awesome, but I had sworn to myself that I wouldn't wear it until the promised day. And then finally October 31^st arrived. Yes. Halloween, the best day for a 5-year-old superhero geek. It’s the only day that you are allowed to wear your costume and mask and not hide your full powers. We had this big Halloween party where all my friends and family gathered after Trick-or-treating ended. I don't understand why, but with the costume on, I felt as if Spiderman's powers were within me. I looked to the left, and there was the wall. My spider instincts tingled. I just had to jump right now. And so I did.

  Literally, I fell flat to the ground faster than even Spiderman could. My butt ached, and all my friends must have been laughing. I probably should have stopped then and just went to the candy corns, but you know what heroes do. They never give up. I jumped on the wall again.

 ......And there I was! I stuck to the wall! 

 You wouldn't have believed it. I mean, I couldn't believe it. Even in shock, I didn't forget thanking Peter Parker for handing me his powers. I didn't stop there. I climbed up the wall to the ceiling and even walked on there. After defying gravity some more, I swiftly dropped down to the ground. I felt truly proud of myself. 

A few years later in Korea, I saw my glorious moment in the family album. I was expecting to see the Sticky Superhero Spiderman proudly making his debut. Nonetheless, all I saw in the album was a pair of large hands lifting up a very hyped-up little kid by the ankles. My dad had been lifting me up through the whole party.

For all that time, I thought I was the hero. But the real hero wasn't even in the picture. The real hero didn't even have any powers. The real hero was my father who had to hold my ankles up for the entire party. I later asked my dad about that moment, and he just told me that he only remembers seeing Spider-man swing into the party. 

Who is your hero? Is it Superman? Or Batman? Perhaps the Hulk? Great. Those are great heroes. Mine was Spiderman. Was. Not anymore. After seeing that album, my hero changed. My hero is my own father, who didn't complain once while he was holding me up in the air. With no superpowers, he was, is, more super than any superhero.