The Force that Drives

Welcome back to The Hero Beat. This week, I wanted to scratch the surface of one of the more common questions I get asked: What compels some heroes with extraordinary powers to fight for good causes? The answers to this question run deeply. Rarely are there simple answers to why anyone does the things that they do. Because the subject is far too deep to cover in just one column, I will probably revisit it from time to time.

When I ask this question to heroes, some have what have become stock responses. Revenge to right some wrong, guilt over some past evil, the thrill of battle, a religious calling to fulfill the grand design, and so on. Many heroes, however, have motivations that run much deeper.

Take a moment to think about why you, the reader, are the way that you are. Is there one defining moment in your life that set you on your way to your inevitable destination, or are you a collage of your experiences, slowly evolving every day, molded by everything you feel and learn?

The other day, I was on a mission with a hero named Skippus. He is the reigning monarch of a nation of seven planets in another dimension and has mental powers that surpass most psi heroes that I know. He came to Earth to rescue his daughter, Reyla, from a sorcerer from his home planet of Kore. I certainly understand why he came to Earth, but I asked him why he fights evil here instead of simply seeking his daughter without interfering. He gave me a particularly insightful answer.

"On Kore," he started, "All citizens are taught from the time that they are children that it is every person's responsibility to keep vigil over the peace of our society. We believe that evil cannot survive unless the people in a civilization allow it. As the Koric King, I take this responsibility very seriously and very personally. Many of our people look to us to be role models, to set examples for them to live by. If I do not do my part to fight evil, how can I expect others to?"

A noble answer, but it still sounded suspiciously like one written by a public relations agent to sell King Skippus t-shirts. I had to dig deeper. I told him that here on Earth, he is not serving as an example to his people. They do not know of his battles here, and if he manages to get back to Kore, he could tell them anything they wanted to hear.

"Many people here on Earth live with that philosophy, and it saddens me," he continued. "I have heard some here mention something they call the Golden Rule, about treating people as they want to be treated. This is remarkably similar to what we call the Citizen's Code. A rough translation is, 'Act as a teacher of actions, feel as a teacher of feelings, and live as a teacher of life.' Rarely do Earth's citizens actually abide by their Golden Rule. I may not have much of a chance of changing the planet in the short time I live here on Earth, but if I do not live by the Citizen's Code or your Golden Rule, then I have no chance at all."

But why does he try to change the planet? It is, after all, not his planet.

"Because I am not just a citizen of Kore, of course. I am also a citizen of the spirit that bind us all together. So are you, your readers, my daughter Reyla, the heroes of Paragon City--everyone. The Citizen's Code is not just to teach our citizens, the Heart of Kore, it is to teach everyone we meet."

I suppose that his explanation can be neatly filed under M for Making the world a better place, but it still strikes me as powerful.

On a slightly different note, I dropped by the Arcane Arts store on Waters Street in Atlas Park to talk to The Amazing Archos, the owner of the store. Archos is a renowned stage performer with real mentalist powers. He has wowed audiences worldwide with his amazing displays of psychic skill, but other than a street thug or two who has tried to rob his store, he has never taken to battling the villains that plague Paragon City. I wanted to ask him why, so that maybe I could get some insight into what makes a would-be hero not take up the cause of fighting for good.

When I asked him why he did not go on missions and task forces like other heroes, he answered, "First of all, I have a store to run. Crime fighting is noble, but it can't support my wife and kids. Second, speaking of Sharon and kids, I feel like risking my life daily like a lot of the other heroes do wouldn't be fair to them. My most important job is husband and father. Third, sure there's a lot of crime around here, but the Freedom Phalanx and other heroes pretty much keep in it check. If big stuff comes up, they can always hire the Hero Corps to work on it. They may be expensive, but they've always gotten the job done.

I pressed on with the hard question: Does he feel guilty at all about others putting their lives on the line while he performs tricks at the Paragon Metropolitan Center?

"Look, I know it may sound kind of harsh, and it's not that I don't care at all. I have a lot of respect for heroes. But a lot of folks just assume that people with powers should fight crime. I wish they would all ask themselves what they would do if suddenly they woke up with powers. Would they risk dying every day? Maybe some would, but not that many, I think. Almost every day I see people on the street getting robbed by some two-bit street hoodlums. How many risk their lives to fight back for what's right? Most just stand there cowering in fear. The ones that run usually don't even run that far. They just get out of the way and wait for a hero to step in and do the dirty work. And how many of their fellow Paragonians help them? Hell, they just throw up their hands and run away! Like I said, I've got a wife and three kids to take care of and they need me, I can't do the sort of stuff that other heroes do."

He does have a point. I actually know several people with powers who live average, normal lives. They are our accountants, engineers, chefs, and our janitors. They are not bad people, they just have different priorities from the heroes you see on the front page and the nightly news. And let us not forget that some people who have powers use them selfishly for personal gain, usually at the expense of others. Some even become supervillains who terrorize the city.

There truly are all types of forces that drive people with super powers to do what they do, whether it is tearing at a warwolf's mind until it falls in submission, entertaining an audience by making a soccer mom cluck like a chicken, or cleaning the floors of the new Galaxy Arena.

Toño "News Man" Vasquez