In 1938 Superman was born. Now, I’m not talking about the Action Comics Superman that was published on April 18th and cover dated for June. I’m talking about the REAL Superman born on April 10th, 1938. The one who was heaven sent and grew up in Danville, VA—not the one from planet Krypton, raised by farmers in Kansas.
Like that other superman, the real superman also came from humble beginnings with high moral standards. Both supermen are on the quiet side and have hidden strengths that only emerge whenever circumstances demand a strong man of action. One superman can bend steel with his bare hands. The other superman is ambidextrous and can fix practically anything.
These supermen both wear birth control glasses during their day job, one a mild-mannered reporter, the other a retired sergeant major in the Air Force.
Both supermen fell in love with smart, ambitious women, who they support with grace, using their superpowers to provide a protective bubble around them. Yet the real superman also has three daughters and four grandchildren, all of whom sensed the real superman’s love for them at an early age ‘cause the real superman knows that the love of family is the greatest power of all and the protection of family is the highest honor bestowed upon him.
The real superman is also a numbers man. Don’t leave a piece of paper lying around—or else he may start figuring out his numbers for the pick 3 and pick 4 on it. The real superman used to bid everyone in the house a good morning then ask what they dreamed about, ready to look up the numerical significance of the dream. Whichever scheme he employs, the real superman has never won significantly more money than the average person, but anyone who knows him, knows that the death number is 769 and that my sister’s wedding anniversary is 624. As morbid as it sounds, the real superman also plays the death dates of famous people.
Back on his 70th birthday, the real superman told all of us who were in attendance for his party that the key to good living was measured in laughter. That’s why the real superman, my father, Karl Wayne Roberson, can still leap over tall buildings in a single bound, laughing and sending good energy the entire way.