The ultimate hero, in a world of superheroes

Note from Chief Editor, Diana Jones

Hello Folks!

Welcome to the September 2060 edition of 'Life, Style & Stuff'.

You would be happy to note that your favorite (and to the best of our knowledge the only) print magazine in the country has managed to hang on for one more month at least, to put out this edition.

Without subscriptions from you folks we would have long been out of business, so first a big thank you from the entire team to our readers! (And to those of you who don't have a regular subscription, take the hint and get that subscription now!!)

Getting onto this month's edition we do have a bunch of interesting stuff for you, which I will get into.

But first a little teaser about our main article for this month.

Our writer, Frank Logan did an interview with the only eligible person in the entire country who rejected the partially government-funded program extending superpowers to those who couldn't afford them on their own.

So why do you think he was not interested in getting superpowers?

Religious reasons?

Skepticism about the technology or the corporation behind it?

I will let you make your own guesses.

To find out the actual reason for his decision turn to page 12.

'The ultimate hero', in a world of superheroes

By Frank Logan

If you met Matthew Wayne on the road chances are that you won't give him a second glance. Probably because you wouldn't consider him to be unusual.

He looks like any lean, tall guy in his mid-forties with tousled hair. He trains dogs for a living.

But he has a secret. He has an extraordinary superpower.

In fact, he has a greater superpower than any other person in the entire country.

So what is his superpower?

Nothing.

He has no superpower.

In fact he was the only eligible person in the entire country who rejected partially government-funded medical procedures which would have given him superpowers.

Now you're confused.

If he has no superpower, then why am I telling you that he has the most extraordinary superpower, especially considering that now there are millions of people with superpowers around the country?

It won't be a brief explanation. Bear with me.

Genesis International started commercially offering treatment giving superpowers to people more than five years ago. Initially the treatment was very expensive and only billionaires could afford it.

But things changed and it became more affordable, at least if you were reasonably rich. That meant that there were lots of people who could fly, whose skin could withstand bullets or fire, who could outrun cheetahs or whose brain capacity could perhaps rival supercomputers.

But there was a lot of opposition against the idea initially.

Technology sceptics, religious groups and even concerned citizens banded together and protested. One major reason for these protests was the fear that superpowers would lead to the ultimate form of inequality. That the rich would be far superior than the masses both physically and mentally.

The government, lobbied by Genesis, came up with a solution.

Mostly using money raised via a special tax on the rich, the government would partially fund the cost of undergoing procedures which would give any citizen at least modest superpowers. Any adult without a criminal record and healthy enough mentally and physically to undergo the procedure would be eligible.

All the resistance to Genesis crumbled away with people lining up to get superpowers. For some it was just for the experience or for fun, but for others it was a need. You won't get any promotions in office if you had the worst memory and mental capacity in office.

So everyone wanted superpowers.

Everyone except Matthew Wayne.

Before I met him I thought he would have rejected superpowers because he was opposed to the idea, because he was religious or because he had doubts about the technology or about the company doing it.

But it was none of those.

When I asked him the question his answer was, "Son, I don't hate people with superpowers or having superpowers. I just don't want or need them."

"How things are now is good enough for me."

I spent a lot of time thinking about what he said before I understood him.

For him, it was never about rejecting superpowers.

It was about choosing to be human.

And then, I understood.

In his own way, Matthew Wayne already had superpowers.

His identity, his capacity for self-acceptance, his silent confidence.

He was the only person in the entire country who was able to come to terms with his limitations, accept them - not with anger or resentment - and be able to live with them.

In a world of superheroes, Matthew Wayne is the ultimate hero, the only one with an identity of his own.

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