In another thread, Tothian asked an interesting question.

Tothian wrote:

The Samaritan wrote: the night I became a RLSH. Out of curiosity, what did you do on that night that made you an RLSH?

Now, of course, keep in mind what I think Tothian meant was at what moment did you decide, or felt, that you had decided to become an RLSH. What happened that triggered your decision? (This is my personal interpretation of what Tothian said, though I could be wrong.)

We don't "become" real life superheroes by being bitten by spiders, or irradiated. It's something we evolve into. Tothian is famous for saying that being a hero, or a superhero, is a title bestowed upon us by others, and he is right. But there are many that I've talked to that say they had a moment where something clicked and they knew what they were (whatever "it" was that they were). And for sake of self description, they knew they wanted to be a "hero", even as some feel a Calling for service as a minister, a policeman, or other similar profession.

So, what happened, or at what moment did you decide to "take up the mantel"?

When did I decide to join? After I discovered Superheroes Anonymous online and started studying them and the RLSH community in whole.

When did I know that I was a RLSH? When people started telling me that they respect me and what I do. I'd never had anyone say that to me before.

for me it started at Riverbend Hank Jr was in town and me grandma wanted to go see him but I would not let her go alone. As the concert was going on she ask me go get her a coke. While I was standing in line there this girl who could not be any older the 15 and this man came up and started talking to her soon I heard the girl say " got lost you sick freak" . ant that the man grabed her by the wrist pulled her closer to him and grabed her chest a cop walked right past them I finaly turned around and told the guy to leave while he was still able to walk. This was four or five years ago.

Silver Sentinel,

I'll admit, I was setting him up to respond in such a way like "Well I created my persona that night" or "I first walked down the street in my uniform", so I could have an excuse to elaborate on my theory. Believe me I hate sounding like a broken record like Entomo but some of you choose to either ignore me or just believe what you choose to believe. You can all disagree with me about things and we'll still be cool, but I think deliberate ignorance is a trait in people that I despise the most. For example, there could be a very physically attractive woman, but if she proves to be ignorant, I'll view her as unattractive.

That is alright that you were able to use my words to think of an idea of a question to ask people. Expanding your mind and thinking freely arouses interesting conversations, so that's always awesome. To be honest, I do believe you could have phrased your question with a more accurate tone, as opposed to the oxymoronic feel infested in it. Man stays wise as long as he searches for wisdom. Once he thinks he has found it, he becomes a fool. Same theory applies to many other aspects of life, as well.

I do believe that sometimes a true RLSH doesn't view themself as an RLSH, because of the fact that they rarely focus inward about themselves, to an obvious extent. Of course one must both seek and aim to better themself in order to be able to effectively help others. But, one must prioritize and remember that in the end, what we do must be all about the people we're out to selflessly protect.

If you asked me when I decided that my mission in life was to protect people, I can't say I remembered the exact moment, because as far back as I can remember, I've always believed that I somehow knew this was the life I'd live, before I lived this life. It was an idea that has evolved over the years, and continues to evolve with the gaining of new knowledges, skills, and experiences.

It was no great event, more of a great self realization, that a life spent helping when needed could never be a life wasted. That all my interests, abilities, and talents would be of better use to us all if spent in the service or others. After many hours researching different organizations, neighborhood watch programs and the like, I came across The Real Life Super heroes. A concept that at first seemed a novelty, something I pushed to the back of my mind, but one that was always there. Then I came across a particular RLSH in my area whose, handy work I had seen the results of for myself, first hand. That was a turning point for me, I came to think that my training could have been put in my path for this very reason, instead of some eventuality that may never come (Ninja Attack!!! J/K). These concepts and ideas warred in my head for awhile. In the end I let my faith guide my judgment. I think I was on the train coming home when I finally made up my mind, and thus the Samaritan was born.

Samaritan,

As far as what you were saying earlier in the other thread, this does explain what you meant. Thank you for your response.

@ Tothian - You always invite good discussion and often say things that promote deep thought. That's why I enjoy talking to you so much and follow many of your threads with interest. Not to mention the book and material list I have compiled based upon your suggestions.

As per our discussion of Marine Drill Instructors, I see you as the hard-nosed* sergeant. The one that is toughest on recruits because you want them to get their crap straight so they're less likely to screw up under pressure. Seriously, if a prospective rlsh can't take a little harsh criticism, or tough love (all meant for their benefit) then this probably isn't the life for them.

At first I thought you were a hard ass, but realized that wasn't the case. And I'm glad you continue to challenge things others might take for granted. It helps keep things real.


* - For those of you without military experience, this is actually a compliment. The hard-nosed instructor gets recruits flustered and nervous, forcing them to remember what they've learned under pressure.

After re-reading this post I think I should amend it. While Tothian can be a proponent of tough love, in actuality he's more of the "instructor" sergeant. The sergeant that instructs, educates, and clarifies material for the recruits. Yeah, Tothian is more of an instructor the more I think about it. But he won't hesitate to give you a good kick in the behind if he thinks it'll do you some good.

I didn't choose the mission. The mission chose me. Skating has been my hobby for a long time and while I was skating in streets, I noticed that I had more and more opportunities to help people in many situations. It was like a destiny, a pleasant destiny.

When the Media decided to give us that name.

I found the RLSH and found a reason to do what I can do at the same time.

Funny story of how I officially got started, I remember it like it was yesterday (fading music). It was a cold night in 2004 (but I’ve been training to be a hero since 2003, the idea popped in my head one day lol) and me and a good friend was downtown drinking and chilling, trying to get into some sort of mischief. Ok Just a little back story, me and him were both undercover comic nerds at the time because we had reputations to uphold and to keep it real all those hot girls we were messing with didn’t like us for our brains lol so me and him would talk comics whenever we were alone. However we used to do extremely stupid stuff (crimes) whenever we were with the rest of the gang, I personally participated in this stupid stuff because it was fun, I wanted to learn the criminal mindset and I wanted to be fearless on the battle field, what better way to have fun, learn criminals and how to be fearless than to live on the edge of the law ? Anyways back to the story, I brought up the idea of being a RLSH in our deep drunken comic conversation that night and than he started to tell me about the history of my city and how at one point in time in the mid 90’s to early 00’s a group of young vigilantes roamed the south side streets. After hearing some of his story’s of my city’s history I felt a sense of pride in being a RLSH. It’s actually kind of funny when I think about it because I thought I was using him the whole time to learn skills I can use to become a hero but in fact he was recruiting me by testing me to see if I had the balls to perform the tasks necessary to represent the organization in a new age of crime fighting. And if you must know, my brotherhood as a whole has long since stopped doing stupid stuff as a means of training and recruiting however we do maintain our ties to that old scene and to its people for obvious informational and strategic reasons.

About 17 years ago I was walking home from school here In Iqaluit A group of thugs jumped me I wont go into the details but Needless to say that I fled for my life by Moving back to Ontario where I am origionally from and living with relatives. I Started school there the next school year around the time of thanksgiving weekend I was trying on a costume for Halloween (I wanted to go as a Modern Day Lone Ranger) I just happened to look out my bedroom window and seeing another kid at the park down the street I just could not stand there and do nothing but I could not waste time removing the costume either so I jumped out the window and climbed down the pine tree hopped on my bike and rode down to the park as fast as I could I hid the bike behind a small grove and then climbed another set of trees using the branches to work my way over to the boy and the thug. Then I jumped down just behind the thug and scared him off then I saw the bag on the ground I handed it back to the boy who then asked me if I was a superhero like his comic books portrayed I told him that he could call me that if he wanted I got home and climbed back up the tree and into my window thinking about what I just did At the Time I had No idea that others like Master legend and Super Hero extisted so I thought that I was doing something new I figured that the only rules I had to follow would be my own common sense as halloween came there was a big snowstorm. I spent the next dayHalloween morning shoveling snow with the costume on but I would not let anyone know who it was clearing out the sidewalks Of course when My aunt found out she yelled at me for 4 reasons Superheroes are not real people She hated Superheroes all they do is fight and destroy buildings and traffic and what the hell was I doing outside dressed as one and what the hell was I doing outside without a coat I told her that I was going to be a superhero for Halloween and that my mind wqas made up but i was going to make my own character while I was at it and sort of follow the example of Super Shamou I showed her the comic I had of him and she still got confused thinking that I was going to try and fly over the city and carry a water truck over my head to put out the fire I told her no I am going to learn about bullies and other problems and try to teach people that violence will never solve anything I went back out to the playground where I saw the young boy I took my shovel and dug out the swings and the slide for him then proceded to pull him with my shovel like a sled when we saw his mother who had been watching us she explained that they had just moved into the area but she was on the lookout for the bully who had bothered her son before I told her that I had scared him off then she figured out that I was the Superhero that her son was talking about thats right I said I am called Polarboy (I was 14 at the time) I know what it is like to be picked on by bullies and I swear that as long as I am alive I would never let any other kid come to harm so She asked that I help take a group of kids including her son trick or treating I said sure but I admit I felt awkward when the kid ran over and gave me a big hug I just wasnt used to that (Picture Captian Picard and Worf Hugging kids) I went over and cleared the porch for them too I got to make a bunch of friends like him over the years However a year after that christmas season I was told by my parents to move back home It was sad that I had to leave the kid down there as he would have loved to have seen the north the christmas after I first met him I brought back a Super Shamou comic with a big poster for his room and I gave his mother an ULU to carve her meat with as well as a Playmobile Igloo playset for him to set up I found that he had another Playmobile set I cant remember what it was too but he took the figure in the white clothes and dressed him up like myself I havent seen or heard from him in years but I wonder if he might reconise me if he saw one of my many pictures of me on the internet. Now I did not Know anything about Master Legend as a real person So I think I truly became a RLSH when I found the world superhero registry for the first time but what I did before that was to myself at first a goal to try and combat the bully problem then experement to see how close to the comic book heroes I could possibly get without going into the super powers or using technology to fake my abilities I also wanted to use it as a role model that kids would notice figuring that if they saw me in plainclothes I would look just like a bully or someone smoking and selling dope to kids so I used the suit to make sure that I never got that image and I bought all the comic books I could get my hands on over the years and used that as an excuse to never start smoking or drugs Most teenagers by the time they are 14 may smoke at least one full pack a day if not more and I wanted to make sure that I did not fall into that pattern The same with drinking alcohol when My mother complained about all the figures and comics I was buyng I told her that it could be worse and to be thankful that its not drugs and ciggeretts or alocohol that I was getting into

I knew that I wanted to be a superhero since I was a kid. My Grandparents, whom I have lived with my whole life, always thought it was stupid as I got older. As time passed, I had pretended not to care anymore and I just studied for school for quite a long time, secretly reading batman and what not. At 15, My grandfather got really sick due to lung problems a couple times and by the third time, doctors said that he wouldnt make it. He told me that he had liked comics as a kid too, and had the same dream I did. When he passed, I knew that I had to make my dream a reality. We had both been into greek mythology, so I took the name Atlas as my alter-ego. I had always been "the rich kid" in school and had hated myself for that. There were people on the streets being mugged, raped, and killed, while I was in a gated community with a big house and a pool. So Since then, I have been in college training my mind, and have decided to use my large inheritance to pay for what I need to reach my goal. The rest will probably go to charity.

and to help alot of people in need

Atlas, you could also set up a scholarship for high school graduates that are heading for college. Helping the youths of today to become the leaders of tomorrow makes a big difference.

*dreading the day they drop bass into Nat'l Anthem*


"Mystery Man"*points to self*

suffer from CNS (Chronic Nice-Guy Syndrome, no that would not make it CNGS, that's just stupid) and want to leave a positive mark when I'm gone. always been this way, just more so of late.

"When did you know you wanted to do good things for people/the world without sharing that it was you?"

always

am I talking to myself? grandparents raised me? whoah bud....... where are you stationed?


it's a personal thing. not about others, I just see MYSELF that way. it's got this 40s feel to it, ya'know? if I was more of a public figure, maybe. not the plan tho. right now I can do for my community, and if the Green Power thing goes down close enough I wanna go. unfortanately, if I do get to, I've been informed I'll have to remain incognito

if you feel more comfortable with RLSH, cool. I have plenty of friends here who feel the same. I'm more along the periphery somewhere