Column #21 - And So We Lay Down the Cape One Last Time

Superman is more than an icon, he's the very embodiment of all that's good and right with the world. He's the best in each of us, that little tidbit of morality that lets us do the right thing when its just easier not to, the tickle at the back of our neck, the Jiminy Cricket in each of us...Or is that the Jimmy Olson? So it's with sad resignation that we set down the crimson cape one last time. The world has lost more than an icon, it's lost torch-bearer, a man who did more after losing everything than most of us do with our entire lives. What a wonderful example. What a tragic loss.

And yet he was so much more than a man in tights or a silly blue costume; after loses all that made him super, he became a visionary, a source of strength, someone, in the end, that you really could look up at and admire. I gained more respect for Christopher Reeve outside his role of Superman than I ever did on the silver screen. His Clark Kent was big and broad and infallible and also awkward and socially inept and shy around the prettiest go-get-them girl, Lois Lane.

Superman was damn near perfect in every way and yet he never seemed to lord it over us mere mortals. But Christopher Reeve, now that was a real man of steel. Sadly, this did not apply to his own body, but rather his spirit, his soul which I firmly believe was never limited to earthly confines. To overcome what he did, a freakish accident, near-death and eventual paralysis. I came to believe that the seemingly impossible possibility of him one day rising out of his wheelchair, walking across a stage, and welcoming a new era of medical promise was only a matter of time. Who am I to argue with Superman?

The recognition that the simplest achievements might be the most significant. This is a man for whom breathing without a respirator became national news. Because it signaled a bastion of possibility; today breathing, tomorrow walking, then running, then dare I say it...flying? Anything seemed possible. It wasn't a question of "if" it was a question of "when". It seemed that Christopher Reeve could will himself to walk, will himself well. And if not on his own then through the support of his doctors who seemed to find reserves of energy from their patient. Sadly, time, the most cruel and fickle of mistresses was not on his side.

I've long had this recurring image in my mind. One day in the not so distant future, Michael J. Fox, cured from the effects of Parkinson's, extends a hand free from shaking and with this simple gesture helps Christopher Reeve rise from his wheeled prison. Regretfully this will never happen. But someday, and someday sooner than any of us think, someone is going to stand up out of a wheelchair under their own power and never sit down again.

Maybe, just maybe, it'll be partly in thanks to the money and the attention and the spirit that Chris Reeve emboldened. If this was a man so positive about his chances for a full recovery what right do I have to question his passion. His energy made me a better person, it made me believe in the impossible. It made me believe in something truly super. But mostly it gave me hope. And with just a little of this the other things just seem to fall into place.

The Crash Test Dummies said it best with "Superman's Song".

Tarzan wasn't a ladies' man
He'd just come along and scoop 'em up under his arm
Like that, quick as a cat in the jungle
But Clark Kent, now there was a real gent
He would not be caught sittin' around in no
Junglescape, dumb as an ape doing nothing

Superman never made any money
For saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like him

Hey Bob, Supe had a straight job
Even though he could have smashed through any bank
In the United States, he had the strength, but he would not
Folks said his family were all dead
Their planet crumbled but Superman, he forced himself
To carry on, forget Krypton, and keep going

Superman never made any money
For saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like him

Tarzan was king of the jungle and Lord over all the apes
But he could hardly string together four words: "I Tarzan, You Jane."

Sometimes when Supe was stopping crimes
I'll bet that he was tempted to just quit and turn his back
On man, join Tarzan in the forest
But he stayed in the city, and kept on changing clothes
In dirty old phonebooths till his work was through
And nothing to do but go on home

Superman never made any money
For saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like him

Goodbye Chris Reeve. Thanks for the memories. Thanks for the dreams. But mostly thanks for the hope.
Christopher Reeve - Sept. 25, 1952 to October 10, 2004
"Gone to Soon"

And sometimes I despair the world will never see Another man like him
Jess Nakaska is an aspiring screenwriter always on the lookout for the next great script idea. He'll let you know if he finds it. Feel free to contact him at jessnakaska@hotmail.com.