Calling All Superheroes (Prose poem)

Today I passed a church and on its marquee it said "Calling all superheroes"
and as I maneuvered my way through traffic I started to wonder
why does everyone has to be a superhero now? Recently, local teachers were presented
as being superheroes and it had annoyed me a little, but I hadn't really
thought of why. Now local churches are calling for superheroes.
Aren't they just members of the church who wish to contribute?
Aren't I just a teacher trying to do my job?

Years back, I read an article about Superman and Batman and how they
were both introduced during the decade of the Great Depression.
It was said that people needed to believe someone could save them
and that Superman even fought Nazis. We currently have a similar
obsession because superheroes became popular again after 9/11 when we
found a clear line again between good and evil. This had been lost
in the intervening years, especially the 60's and 70's when ambiguity reigned.

So maybe that's my problem. I am a clear product of the age of confusion
and cynicism.  Batman was presented in a campy style on television.
It was comedy. The Dark Knight wasn't so dark. We were beyond it.

Perhaps this is the root of my annoyance.
I am not here to save anyone, nor do I believe I have to be saved.
I don't see a clear line between good and evil--only shades of gray.
Making teachers superheroes implies that there is a clear line and that
we have the ability to fight the forces of evil on our own, that perhaps
the immoral and undemocratic acts that we see perpetuated through the education
system can somehow be eradicated by us. But we are only professional people
trying to do the best job possible. We are not from other planets nor did we
make a vow to avenge the deaths of those we love. We are just trying to stop
the intellectual death of our students through systemic injustice that comes
in many forms. Yes, we fight on the front lines but we could still use a certain
amount of reasonable help, respect, and acknowledgement.

The teachers I know are just regular human beings determined to do
the best they can in admittedly trying times.  I watch as their hearts
break daily, seeing what cannot be accomplished, the canyons they can't bridge.

I don't think the superhero pedestal serves any of us.
The mythology around superheroes demands they live double lives
--they all have alter egos: Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker.

I'm just trying to be authentically me.

I'm a teacher. Not a myth. Not a comic. Not a television show or movie.

All I ask: a little help, a lot more respect, and true acknowledgement of my profession.

Don't make me into something I'm not.  But don't block me from what I do best.

Not me