Can a Superhero Conquer Prejudice and Create Understanding?

As a child, I was fascinated by comic books. The epic stories of good versus evil in a world parallel to our own captured my imagination and established a youthful ideal of justice I still possess.

My old Spider-man, X-Men and Thor comics are now in storage somewhere, trapped in plastic sleeves, their well read pages unturned for decades. But they were all on my mind recently.

Understanding–or the lack thereof—-poses a great challenge to those who think about relations between countries and people. Although we are connected through technology and transportation, conflict persists because we fail to understand each other’s traditions, cultures, and religions. In many cases, these values overlap. In today’s world, we need role models that reflect our diversity as well as our commonality. The world literally depends on it.

Young people across the world grapple with tough issues every day. Their idea of justice is simple, not abstract: they need food, shelter, education, and outlets for expression. However, many are seduced by antiheroes with extremist and divisive messages, while positive and constructive voices are nonexistent or drowned out. Where are the heroes?

Earlier this month, the Open Hands Initiative convened a groups of disabled Syrian and American youths in Damascus for the first ever international Youth Ability Summit. Together, these young people worked with comic book and disability experts to discuss the serious issues they face, and to create a new series of superheroes.

These superheroes, including the world’s first cross-cultural superhero with disabilities, will soon swoop into villages and cities. Like their famous forebears, they too will inhabit a parallel world fraught with division and prejudice and will serve as positive role models to help young people understand the changing world around them. Through open hearts and open minds, the American and Syrian youths cooperated to create these superheroes who will fight for the precious common ground between people of the world.

Everyone who participated in the Summit in Damascus–myself included–describe the event as transformative. Despite their differences, the youth found common ground through their intellectual and physical disabilities. By exploring their commonalities, they enriched each other’s lives and their ideas. Syria’s First Lady, Asma al Assad, spent an afternoon among us, and spoke about how she expected amazing things from such amazing people.

For some, such an endeavor may seem like a daunting challenge–a building too tall to leap in a single bound. But for our own group of young Syrian and American heroes, the depth and breadth of their conversations, ideas, and life stories surpassed all expectations.

I look forward to sharing more about our experience with you on our website. Stay tuned for more news about these new superheroes and to hear the stories they will tell in Syria, the US, and around the world.