Not all men are superheroes - and that's actually a good thing
The world worships heroes, the big muscular kind, the Olympic gold-winning women kind, people who succeed against all odds kind. It is their stories that are repeated, and as Aamir Khan’s character in Dangal says, never forgotten by history and given examples of to others.
The others. Like us. The rest of us, who don’t win the podium prizes, the ones who come 10th, or worse, bring home a participation prize from school or the lemon and spoon competition held in their society.
The problem with heroic narratives, whether in the form of stories or those bite-sized intelligent quotes that we share on Facebook and other social media, is that we are told over and over again that if you work hard, you will achieve your goal.
That goal could be that of achieving the perfect bikini body or a figure ten at the Olympics. All you need to do is keep at it. The achievement of the goal is always a given. But is it true? Is it all that simple?
For every Dipa Karmakar, there are thousands languishing in gymnasiums unable to master the beams. As per the prevailing heroic narrative, they haven’t worked hard enough, or worse, that they haven’t put in time.
The problem with such a storyline is that it ignores a large part of the population who cannot be heroes, and this is never for the want of desire. They can put in their blood, sweat and tears and yet be unable to achieve their goal. They carry within them the curse of the knowledge, that no matter what they do, they shall stay the average and that they will never rise above the masses and become a superhero who will save the world.
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| Even Batman could not have his billions to spend for his slick toys if he did not have a company filled with routine people. |
The amount of pressure that this puts on us can only be imagined, with the number of suicides committed by children around the time of their examination results. The children heartbreakingly imagine that being unable to excel automatically translates into not deserving to live. The story repeats itself with parents who are depressed because their children are called average.
Who are these average people?
The average consists of the everyday masses who keep the gears of society moving. They may not quote from Shakespeare but they are the ones that get the work done. They are the support staff without whom, the hero could not be propped up as it is the average that elevates the heroes. It is the cleaner who makes the gymnasium ready for the champion's match, the person who checks the oil in Batman’s car.
The average milieu are the workers, they are the doers. They might never rise to the top but without them being part of the team, even the top doctor would not be able to save that many lives.
When we only focus on the heroic narrative, we sideline the importance of the average. This can lead to crippling anxiety in the people who are trying their damn best to be the best and break out of the moulds that have been created for them in society. The people who have been continually told that it is not okay to be them, and over time, the mould hardens and the person inside disappears until he no longer exists.
Who are we to deny them of their existence? By all means, push yourself to achieve all your dreams but to imagine that you aren’t good enough just because your milestones are slower or different is unfair to both the average person and the hero. Each is running their own marathon in life, the function of each is different. To imagine that every person has to be the hero is flawed thinking.
So, don’t lose heart if you aren’t the top, you still matter. You still make the world a better place just by being you. For every narrative celebrating the heroes, here’s to staying average because it is us who keep the world turning.
Afterall, even Batman could not have his billions to spend for his slick toys if he did not have a company filled with everyday, normal, routine people who put in their time and made money for him.