Superman's Glasses

[TJ Reeves]

(I'm practicing my story telling. Here's a short story I wrote up.)

Everyone knows Superman has the stupidest disguise ever. Why doesn’t everyone recognize him considering all he wears are a pair of glasses?

The secret is that Superman actually uses a hypnosis-beam on everyone around him. This beam bounces through Superman’s glasses and gives everyone Prosopagnosia, or face blindness, such that they literally do not see him for who he is.

Considering how He's destroyed a solar system with a sneeze, shattered reality itself with a punch, and even escaped a blackhole, Superman finds it tough to find entertainment at times. I mean, the best games require challenge, and so does the game of life.

More and more, Superman wonders what it would be like to be truly human until one day, his curiosity over takes him. 

Superman looks at himself in the mirror and uses the hypo beam on himself.

Zap!

Superman stopped being superman and only Clark Kent remained. 

Clark has hidden memories of what it was like to be Superman, but since he’s can’t recognize himself his identity, all he knows is that he feels some type of indescribable incompleteness.

Try as he might, nothing fills up this incompleteness. Fantasizing about to Lois Lane doesn’t Help. Working up the Career ladder at the Daily Planet doesn’t help. Alcohol doesn’t help. Nothing lets Clark feel infinite again.

People begin to look at Clark weird (Remember, everyone around him now sees Superman Moping about, walking instead of flying, acting as if he can’t do anything to help himself, and stuck inside his own mind). Now that he's become human, Clark feels more Alien than ever. Clark gets depressive and begins to zone out.

Lois is skeptical - Why has her Superman started acting this way? She pulls Clark to the side on day at the office. “I don’t know what kind of shenanigans you’re trying to pull off, but it’s weird. You’re not acting like yourself. I don’t like it.You don't like it. No one likes it. Maybe you should go see the MetaHuman Doctor.”

When Clark tells the MetaHuman Doctor about his feelings of physical incompleteness, anxiety over small problems, and inability to look people in the eye confidently, the doctor simply laughs. “Is this some kind of joke?”  

Clark gets visibly upset when he sees the Doctor's’ incredulity. At that moment, the Doctor realizes that Superman is being dead serious. He’s actually convinced himself that he’s Clark. That is, he’s not going to be able to tap into his superhuman abilities to help others until he snaps out of this delusion. Worse, a deluded superman is capable of killing the world in order to try to recreate the feeling of being superman. The joke is suddenly not funny.

The Doctor smiles and tells Clark pain medication is unnecessary, as it would only be treating the symptoms and not the root cause.

Clark tells the doctor that this makes no sense - "What is a sickness if not the symptoms? Perhaps, You mean that my problems are chemical instead of psychological." 

No, The Doctor tells Clark. That’s not the issue. In fact, the Doctor continues, there's weirder news: the symptoms aren’t even symptoms of anything, really – he’s acting like a normal person. The truth is that there’s nothing to fix in the first place. Clark just has to pay attention to who or what he actually is to realize that he’s been infinitely strong this whole time.

Clark doesn’t get it. In fact, he gets mad at the suggestion that there’s nothing to fix – clearly there’s something to fix or else he would have never gone to the doctor!

The doctor grabs Clark by the shoulders, looks him dead in the eye and tells him the truth: Clark, there's nothing to fix because You already transcend what it means to be human. You are a god. You are immortal. You always have been and always will be. You’re getting upset over nothing other than your own stories for what you think you are. If you remember who you are, where you came from, and what you did to get to this point, your problems as Clark Kent will become a mere joke to you. The world needs you to remember who you are - an immortal being - so that you can go back to helping others and stop focusing so much on completing Clark Kent.

“You think I’m a god?” Clark looks at the Doctor like the Doctor is the one who’s insane “I thought you were supposed to be a man of science.” 

The doctor sighed. There’s nothing you can say to someone who’s not willing to listen. 

“Apparently, they’ll let complete nuts run clinics these days,” Clark says as he walks out, slamming the door behind him. He chooses not to notice that the door turned into pure sawdust from his strength. "Telling me that there's no problem when I stand here in torture is simply more torture."

Clark leaves the building and presses a button to cross the street. A kid stands next to him, playing with a bouncy ball.

Clark continues to curse under his breathe. “Why doesn’t anyone help me? First Lois tells me I’m not acting myself and then the Doctor tell me nothing’s wrong. I’m just Clark Kent – I’m not some superhero. What did I do to deserve this bullshit?”

At that moment the kid’s bouncy ball hits off Clarks shoe and into the traffic. The kid runs out to chase the ball, not thinking whatsoever. Clark’s eyes open as he watches things unfold in slow motion. No one else can help - it's not his kid but it is his responsibility. 

He runs out.

BAM!

A huge bus hits Clark just as he manages to reach the child. He saw It for one second. 

His entire life flashes before his eyes. He sees the Truth – the whole universe in front of him – what he actually is.

Then he wakes up, unscathed.

And he gets it. Not matter what’s happened, he’s always been alive. The same way the sun always rises and the birds always fly, he’s had to be alive to see it happen. There’s never been a time he’s aware of where he’s not been alive.

There’s no reason to be anxious, there’s no reason to think he’s weak, there’s no reason to remain unconfident – that’s all part of a character named Clark.

In truth, he’s Superman.

It never mattered what the Doctor told Clark. It wasn’t until Clark got by a bus that it all made sense. The doctor could have shouted YOU ARE IMMORTAL into Clarks face one thousand times but none of that would come close to the direct experience of what it means to be Superman.

It’s not like recognizing who he is actually changed anything about Superman’s life as Clark. He still works at the Daily Planet. He still has a crush on Lois Lane. He still likes coffee. But his experiential grasp of his true nature does change his perspective on things.

Specifically, Clark Kent won’t be limited to the same types of actions now that he remembers that he is.

The next day, Clark saunters in the office with a certain pep. As he turns the corner, a plucky intern runs around the corner and directly into him, spilling coffee on his shirt. “Watch where you’re going, asshole!” the kid yells out. Does Clark get mad? Yes, a little bit at first. I mean, the its the kid who was run

But he’s then he thinks “who gives a shit, I’m Superman. I could snap this guy’s spine in two, but it actually feels better not to." It sucks to live a life where you’re never going to know what it’s like to be Superman. "Honestly I acted like a jackass too when I felt like that. In fact, it sucks so much that I’ll help him clean up despite him acting like a fool."

So Clark continues on being Superman and Clark, knowing the Truth, yet never able to completely state it or else people might freak out. His strength was always there, but his awareness made all the difference. Having the experience of being human makes being Superman that much better: He no longer feels as bored but he also has greater empathy for the humans-waiting-to-be-superhumans around him. 

Edited July 28, 2017 by TJ Reeves

[Visitor]

Good story. I liked the conclusion. I hope you don't mind me adding a variant.

8 hours ago, TJ Reeves said:

...Having the experience of being human makes being Superman that much better: He no longer feels as bored but he also has greater empathy for the humans-waiting-to-be-superhumans around him...

...Having the experience of being ignorant makes being enlightened that much better. He no longer feels as naive but also has greater empathy for the humans-waiting-to-be-enlightened around him...