Historical Imaginary Heroes That Children Believe In
CULTURE | January 4, 2020
Sunday open for sale in several Thuringian cities-(Photo by Bodo Schackow. Source: (Getty Images)
08 December 2019, Thuringia, Erfurt: A reindeer figure with Santa Claus is standing at the entrance of the shopping centre Anger 1. On 08.12.2019 many shops were open in several Thuringian cities.
-Spoiler Alert to children (and adults) who believe in these “imaginary” people.-
Traditions have been passed down through the years of telling children bedtime stories, fairy tales, and tales of people that no one has ever seen. These unseen people include Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and the Easter bunny as well as superheroes from comic books that possess some special power. Each one in some way has an attraction that children are drawn to that causes them to believe in them. It may be their magical ability to perform certain “miracles” to fulfill something they desire to have happened.
Some imaginary figures actually came from real people. Santa Claus came from a man who was named Saint Nicholas who was a bishop during the 4th century. He was born in Asia Minor and became bishop after moving to Turkey. He actually died in December, but there are stories that say he was a generous man.
Many debate over whether it is okay for children to be allowed to believe in these heroes. A lot depends upon how the parents choose to teach their children and what their belief system is. There are certainly negatives and positives on both sides of the debate. On one hand, the parent could be considered lying to their child, for instance, if they tell them there is a Santa Claus, tooth fairy, or Easter bunny.
One of the reasons for this is because the child may not believe anything else they tell them later when they find out that what they believed in was a lie. On the other hand, what harm is being done in allowing a child to have a sense of anticipation of gaining something nice or some kind of magical hope for their future? The reality is, in both cases, harmful effects are possible.
Sometimes it just depends on the individual child. A lot of children – particularly these days – simply have fun with the idea because, deep in their hearts, they do not really believe in them. They just like to play the game.
Negative effects can present themselves if children believe what is told them about Santa Claus regarding the naughty and nice list. If they believe by being good enough to be on the nice list they will receive what they ask for but when that doesn’t happen for whatever reason, where does that leave them? They feel confused and distraught.
Another scenario is when children believe by putting their tooth under their pillow they will receive money for it. If, for example, the parent forgets to put money under their pillow, what happens to their belief then?
Then there is the third argument. How are these imaginary characters different from the characters that are in the storybooks, comics, cartoons, and movies or even made up from the children themselves? Superheroes can come in many different forms and versions. The bottom line is children want to believe in some kind of superhero. They have vivid imaginations and like to act them out just like their favorite avenger or superhero. They want someone they can look up to and be like.
The very first Marvel superhero was in 1939 named Namor the Sub-Mariner. He was the first one to appear in a Marvel comic book.
Many other Marvel superheroes rose up after that including Thor, Captain America, Incredible Hulk, Ironman, and more. These superheroes formed an alliance and became what is known as The Avengers. Numerous movies have come out with not only the Avengers together but independently showing their individual stories before they became one of the Avengers. Not only are children fascinated by the movies about these superheroes but also are many adults.
In a perfect world, it would be the parents that the children look to as their superhero, but, unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world so that is not always the case. Even so, an extra superhero or two couldn’t hurt. Everybody could use a few of those around including adults.
