All I See are White Clouds

Prologue

   It begins here, like every other story does. The hero or heroine, facing against the empty masses of hate. Look at their regal posture, shoulders sharp, spine straight as they single handedly conquer evil. Always a problem, always a solution. The superhero saves the day.

Yeah, the story always begins here. But not every story is a superhero story. The good guys don't always win. They are not always standing on their feet.

Sometimes, they are lying on their deathbed, preparing themselves for the next world. Sometimes, they are on their knees, eyes opened wide in fear as a gun is held to the back of their heads. Sometimes, their hands are in an iron grip behind their backs, detained for having the dangerous idea of rebelling. It's leaning beside a bed while praying over and over again for your mother's recovery. It's holding out strong, unsure hands to your new baby boy, just born after hours of your wife's laboring. It's struggling for years with adoption papers and finances, to finally be blessed with a beautiful child that people would laser questions at as they observe your skin color compared to theirs. It's letting your children go and discover the rest of their lives without your constant guidance. It's having the courage to face every evil in the world and to not look away.

Superheroes that always defeat evil don't exist. And not every story has a solution to its problem.

But that's what makes a story so great.