Reflection #2

As we went through our discussion in class on the morality of superheroes, I remembered thinking about times where I was put into situations where I had to pick the moral high ground. Everyone sometime in their life has had to make a decision where their morals were put to the test. For me, I can recall one important incident where I was stuck between a decisions that would ultimately affect my relationship with one of my best friends. My best friend and I were a team in high school, and we pretty much did everything together. He did not have much of a stable home life, so he was always over at my house for dinner and just generally hanging out. It was time around our sophomore year when we both started to hang out with a new group of friends that, at first, were really nice. As the year went on, our new friends started to pressure us to do things we did not want to do. At one point, my "friends" wanted my best friend and me to steal something from a local store or we wouldn't be in their friend group anymore. I stood up for myself and told them to find someone else to do their dirty work for them, but my best friend, on the other hand, decided it was okay to steal for the sake of keeping their friendship. Even though I told my friend not to do it, he planned on doing it anyways. I was stuck with the decision of letting him get caught for doing something he shouldn't do or to stop him from stealing. I obviously picked the decision of preventing him from stealing. Unfortunately, my friend still got caught as I was trying to stop him, but luckily he realized I was just trying to stop him from getting in trouble and we ended up staying close friends to this day.

For obvious reasons, this is nothing as crazy as what superheroes have to deal with on a daily basis. Their decisions are about life and death, something that I hope I never have to make a decision on in my life. Their moral responsibilities almost make being a superhero a burden, for they have to make many sacrifices to protect their friends and family and the citizens of the cities that they fight crime in. Which is why I think it is important for superheroes to have dual identities. Superhero’s fight crime and save lives on a daily basis. If they made their personal life public to the world, villains could take advantage of the information and use it against them. For example, if Superman did not have the dual identity as Clark Kent, then his love interests and his foster family could be in danger from Superman's many enemies. Keeping their personal life secret is one of the most important requirements for a superhero, and that is why all superheroes use the dual identity strategy. Personally, I do not have a dual identity. I am who I am to everyone. I do not like to put on a fake mask and pretend that I am someone I am not. I am proud of who I am and I will always feel that way.