It seems man has been obsessed with one thing more than most: to be more than man. Even in the old legends, there were tales of men but those who were special were always more than men. They were either sons of gods or angels. These days we have new candidates: mutants (or meta humans, depending if you’re a Marvel or DC fan) and aliens. Our movies, books and other works are all filled with their stories. If someone accomplished an incredible feat, according to the History series “Ancient Aliens”, it was because these people were part alien.

To an extent, our search to surpass our selves has brought us to such a ridiculous conclusion. Nothing that men has ever achieved was made by men. They were only possible because aliens gave us the technology to accomplish them. I say it is ridiculous because it belittles human achievement as little more than a sideshow for aliens and other fantastic beings. Incredibly, men, some with letters after their names, could not accept that men would understand the workings of the earth, the movements of the stars and the ebb and flow of life by the simplest of means: living.

And there’s the other extreme where man’s quest has brought him to new heights in terms of medicine and technology that one would fear that he was making himself God. He has learned the secrets of life, the blueprint of humans, among others, and the power to destroy all life. While man’s achievements in this sphere are helpful to his fellow man, it’s uses are not always benign. Some have ventured into this realm for profit or, worse, power, and somehow, instead of celebrating such achievements, we fear it.

What we need is balance like much of life itself. We cannot fall into one extreme or the other. We have to acknowledge our achievements but those achievements must help men. Even as we improve ourselves individually through education and physical fitness, we should also improve as a specie.

Personally, I believe that to be the supermen we always wanted to be, we should work on being men. It is the one reality that most people lose sight of. Our greatest power is in our humanity. For that, you need only be your self. Supermen do not master the universe. They master themselves. When we have learned that, and helped each other learn that, then we truly become a race of supermen.