Mr. Salami and Other Superheros

Superman. Batman. Wonderwoman. Ancient history.

The boys have created a new team of superheros. Johnny's are: Metal Man, Super Star, Meateater Man, Dragon Man, Son of Sun, Waveman, Claw Robot, Creature, Tentacle, Superstrong, Monkeyman, Bearman (not to be confused with Beer Man), Electroid, Animal Boy, Dinosaur Man, Stone Man and Doctor Man.

Richie's are Tomato Popcicle Man and Mr. Salami.

We keep them listed in a white binder. Otherwise, I find slips of paper with the superhero names written all over the house. And all over the house is where I file my important papers.

One time, I found some of these little papers cut in half.

"What happened to your superhero names?" I asked Johnny.

"Oh, those guys didn't believe in themselves," he said. "So now they don't exist."

I'm glad that doesn't happen in real life. None of us would be here anymore. Somewhere in space, a torn piece of paper with our name on it would be floating around. Because we all don't believe in ourselves sometimes.

And so I wondered, why didn't they believe in themselves? Did Superfast, say, "Sure I can get there fast. But what am I supposed to do when I get there? I have no other talents whatsoever."

Did Mr. Tomato Popcicle Man say, "Does the world really need another Tomato Popcicle superhero?"

Did Claw Robot say, "If only I'd been born with prosthetic hands, and not prosthetic claws, I could be somebody."

Did the Wave say, "I wasted my youth surfing, and now I don't know how to save people."

Or maybe they believed in themselves, but didn't trust in the world to believe in them.

Now we'll never know because they no longer exist. The moral of the story is: You should always believe in yourself. Pretend like your life depends on it. Because, really, a lot does depend on believing in yourself. Even if your superhero name is Mr. Salami.