Today we celebrate the 75th anniversary of a true American hero: Superman. Though he was born of the imagination of two Cleveland teenagers, everyone knew Superman’s Metropolis was New York — which is why there will be a ceremony today at City Hall and a mayoral proclamation.
Superman became a cultural icon, and for good reason: his embrace of American morality, American ideals and the American flag.
But as we reminisce about the Superman of Action Comics, we shouldn’t be blind to the flesh-and-blood Supermen in our midst.
Carlos Arredondo may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but when those two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon, the Costa Rican immigrant ran toward the danger. He was there in his cowboy hat to support National Guardsmen who were running in combat uniforms and rucksacks to honor our fallen warriors.
Arredondo knows all about that, because his Marine son, Alex, was killed in Najaf, Iraq, in 2004 — news that led Arredondo to attempt suicide.
On Monday his focus was on a man who had lost both legs in the blast and was bleeding profusely. He helped another bystander to apply a tourniquet and get the victim into an ambulance. That’s when a news photographer captured Arredondo holding an American flag drenched in blood.
Carlos Arredondo would tell you he was but one of many good men and women whose own acts of kindness, mercy and bravery in the face of danger may never be known. On behalf of all of them, we cheer the hero who came not in a cape but a cowboy hat.