I am waiting for Superman.
Truth be told, the line was stolen (or should I say borrowed) from a documentary titled, well, "Waiting for Superman". I have yet to watch it but good old Uncle Wiki told me that the documentary probes into the failures of the American public education system.
The cleverly titled documentary got its name after an interviewee, Geoffrey Canada, expressed he was "waiting for Superman" or in other words, waiting for a supernatural force to toss a buoy and rescue the drowning education system, which of course, like Superman, never existed.
There I sat stunned by the simple yet compelling truth. Finally, my hands had cupped the elusive butterfly. It sounds stupid, I know. But people do it. Geoffrey did it. I do it. We stare wide-eyed, head tilted to the sky, waiting for someone/something to lift us from the deep end. And when nothing happens, we're somehow surprised.
Now even upon realising how stupid it is, I must say, it doesn't help a whole lot. My legs are nonetheless tiptoed, my neck is still craned upward. But oh well, at least the next time someone asks, "What are you waiting for?" I can already picture the knowing smile forming on my face.
"Superman," I'd say.
