The Jobless Superhero (and the Reason We have no Abu Man)

What is your career plan? Think about it, there was a time in your life when you thought you could become anybody you wanted to be, from Sports Star, Film Actor to Ticket Checker. And there will come a time when you will realize that you can become nothing more than what you already are. Chances are you are in between these two phases, all the impractical dreams have evaporated while some outrageous ones still roam around your head every once in a while.


We are, as we say, social beings. And each and every thought that we carry can’t help but be influenced somewhat by the society that we live in. And in our society, especially in the middle-class society of Bangladesh, a stable career (income source) is seen as the most important aspect of a man’s life. Risk takers are frowned upon by us, which is why we see an economy that is very harsh on entrepreneurs and much more helpful to the regular job seekers. Who knows, maybe it is in our blood not to be overly adventurous. We know there was a time when many people of this region thought travel by sea to be a sin. Some say Raja Ram Mohan Roy traveled to England apparently to try and end this prejudice. But we, as a nation are still probably more risk averse than many other nations around the world.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was expelled from the University of Dhaka, spent most of his political life in prison, Salam lost his life in the glorious language movement in 1952, many gave their lives in the liberation war because of fighting instead of running away; they had options to live a mediocre life, but they chose not to. Are we ready to accept a Salam in our family? The Salam, who will take risks for a cause that he will deem higher than his own life? Probably not, in our time, that Salam would be subject to disregard and will be considered as a lost hope. Why is Salam not pursuing higher studies more seriously? Why is he not running about looking for part-time jobs? What will he do in life if he does not prepare himself for the very best jobs? If a Salam cares too much about his cause these days, he is a human no more.

Let us look at the fictional characters. Superman, he is a reporter who has not progressed much in his job, as he is out to fight crimes instead of collecting news during most of the times. Spiderman misses his lectures, works as a pizza delivery boy and he can’t even do that properly. Luckily for Batman, he is a rich business man and so he can wonder about all he wants without bothering about maintaining a decent social life. Our deshi Tin Goyenda (three detectives) doesn’t do much serious work either as far as I have read their stories. Remember the time the Powerpuff Girls wanted money to save people? Alright, most of you probably have not watched the PPG but I can tell you that it did not end well for them.

When you are trying to change the world (if not save it), you will not have a standardized theoretical life. And in reality we do not like risk takers, we want that guy who would become everything the society tells him to become and then distribute Zakaat er Sharee and Lungi to the poor. We want him to roam about for at most one day a year to try and get some winter clothes for the poor kids. There is Society Change 101 for you. Nothing else you can do here kiddo, let the robbing, murdering, looting, foreign intervention, border killing go on; who cares if you can just stay alive and enjoying till the earthquake takes down the whole of Dhaka.

There is no wonder why the people in our region never were conquerors, we only fight when we are about to die. And the ones who want to take steps before it is already late, they are just the misguided ones!

Time will come, as throughout history, time has come eventually when the lambs finally start to respect the lions who were trying to help them. Until then, my dear lion, you must control your anguish. You must hold fast to whatever cause you believe in. Because the lambs may not be ready to appreciate you yet, the lambs may not take you into arms yet, but the future belongs to you. Go on and discover what is written for the future.

For the time being however, our future superheroes are just some naive career-‘disoriented’-youths.

"In this world of armchaired bloggers, who created a generation of critics instead of leaders, I am actually doing something, right here, right now, for this city, for my country,... and I am not doing it alone, you are damn right I am a hero." 
(Oliver Queen, Smallville, Season 10, Episode 4)

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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.