Jacqueline M. Ruffino-Platt
Comic books were so popular growing up, costing only 10 cents or less. Today, there are people who collect the oldies but goodies worth way more than the pennies. I liked a few of them myself. Archie and his friends, especially Blondie, another good one. It has been so long ago to remember others. The boys always enjoyed reading Batman and Robin, who toured Gotham City saving those from the horrible and dangerous men and women who made themselves up with makeup and weird-looking outfits. Superman was a favorite one of mine. Flying around the Metropolis helping and saving the people. “Look, up in the sky … is it a plane, is it a bird??? … No, it’s Superman. They were funny, and quite enjoyable. And they all wore capes. The ones who wore the masks I didn’t like very much. A little scary as a little girl. My brothers enjoyed them, and one brother collected the old comics over the years until they were lost along the way with our moving from place to place. Some of you may remember these heroes were on the radio at some time, and my mom was cautious not to expose me to the scary parts of the programs. On the last page of the comic books, and at the end of radio programs, everything always turned out good, and everyone was saved. Our caped heroes helped everyone, and all was well in their cities. The bad guys were captured, and all was good in the Metropolis and surrounding areas. Think about it … don’t you wish we had Superman, even Batman, to help us when things got really bad? I know I would. They would save us from the really bad guys and the environment we are facing.
Today, we have heroes in our midst, in our towns, in our cities, and in our country. They don’t wear capes and fly around in the air from place to place; however, they are our heroes. “We, the people of the United States,” I believe is the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution. It is a good read. We have great heroes to protect us the best they know how and devote their lives in saving us from sickness, tragedy, crime, and unfortunate situations. Nurses who devote their time, many, many hours, their effort to help those who are brought to the hospitals and give the absolute best care possible with what they have to work with. Our doctors, our technicians, and all hospital employees work hard to see everyone is being helped. Our police officers who serve each and every town and country and try to bring peace to all. Our military men and women who are in countries, names of places we haven’t heard of before. Fighting for us to keep us safe. I could keep going on finding those folks out there who are doing their very best so we could be safe. We shall never forget to mention the volunteers who give of themselves and their time to help each and every one of us and our well-being. I know every one of these soldiers, nurses, doctors, policemen, military, and volunteers … I believe are all Action Heroes, and they are flying around without a cape.