My Idol

Idols represent an icon somebody worships or aspires to be. Whatever the reason, they
want to be somewhat like them, to absorb and/or improve certain qualities that they see
important and hope their figures of paragon virtues will be their compass in life be it social,
or even at work. Some would prefer to idolize people who are naturally successful in their
career paths. Others, however chose to idolize men or women who are close to them who
made a significant impact on their lives, say relatives, or a godfather/mother. While most
people prefer to idolize people who are technically alive (or had been alive) and physical… I
would like to disappoint the reader by saying this:

My idol is neither alive nor physical; for my idol is, Spiderman.

Yes. Peter Parker. You did not imagine this nor did you wore your spectacles the
other way round. You know the drill; bitten by radioactive spider , get spider like powers ,
saves New York (and to a certain extent, the world) from various villains and what-nots
besides getting a girlfriend (currently wife) who loves him so. True, he may seemed to be too
good to be true, but sometimes, people just lose out the tiny details in his life that makes him
essentially, my idol.

Peter may be fiction, but the dilemmas he faced, deaths he had to bear, are somewhat
real if you look at it from my point of view. I chose him as my idol as certain parts of his life
as somewhat alike mine. You see, Peter Parker came from humble beginnings; grew up
without parents but with his grandparents, even his grandfather had left him in his world
(note it is HIS WORLD, not ours) due to a robbery incident. Not many would be mentally
prepared to live through life without manly figure, yet Peter managed to live through it well. I
am particularly fascinated by how he maintained a harmonious relationship with his family,
or rather his grandmother Aunt May. I used him as a reference as to how should I maintain a
good relationship with my family, no matter how harsh they scolded me before, for I know
when I am down, or sad, they will be the ones to stand by me no matter rain or shine. Peter
knew that. That is why he would go to lengths to protect Aunt May as well as Mary Jane for
they are his family.

Peter is also my idol for he possesses somewhat unrealistic amounts of willpower and
perseverance. You see, Peter was a nerd in school. Aced his subjects but flunked social
communication. Often a target for jocks and hotshots in school, he managed to persevere
through flames of high school without being burnt so much. If I were him, after the power
acquisition incident, I would massacre those who had wronged me and reign supreme and
redefine nerd as “Intellectual Bad A#@”. But, he didn’t! Why won’t he? He has all the power
in his hands to do that, yet he did not. This inaction of his taught me that revenge is not the
solution to the problems. In fact, there were many instances besides this that allowed him to
take revenge on those who wronged him. Yet, he let them go, out of extreme kindness which
I may not comprehend. However, I do know that what he did was the right thing after all and
I should follow his steps as his uncle advised him to.

Now, another reason for me to idolize such a non-existent character, with such
perfection no human can achieve is because of the same reason: His perfection is unlimited.
Yes, Stan Lee gave him such a good traits, powers and everything… Which is exactly what I
want to follow. In fact, I could even idolize superman, batman or whichever superhero for
that matter but due to Reason#1 I chose him. Human idols have their limits, given certain
circumstances they will choose the wrong path and not be such ‘idol candidates’ anymore.
But superheroes, they are perfect no matter what, for the storyteller says so. I may be
reminded time and time again by my “powerless state” that I am human, however, I want to
be like them, doing the right decisions at the right time. They may be hated, pursued, or
hunted for the decisions they have made, but if it’s the right thing to do, they would do it. I
MUST do it. These are the virtues I intend to acquire, and hopefully my reminding myself
how I have deviated from how my ‘idols’ would act, I can achieve a somewhat similar
attitude towards how I achieve in life, and hopefully, I get to be a hero to somebody, someday
in the future.

So, there you have it, my idol choice justified for the reader’s viewing pleasure.
Though my idol choice may be somewhat out of the ordinary and extravagant, but I hope my
reasons are not as extraordinary to a normal human to comprehend. I may not be a hero to the
world, or even not at all, but I believe the traits and lessons in life can be a suitable guideline
for anyone for that matter. I shall conclude this essay with a small yet powerful quote from
the last manly figure Peter had in his life:

“With great power comes great responsibility”

Benjamin Parker