Super heroes walk among us

N THE old days, the criteria for what constituted a superhero or modern-day do-gooder included special powers or incredible abilities, a figure-hugging costume and a code name. Add a healthy dose of vigilantism and you officially have the makings of a superhero.

As children, we all had our favourite superheroes, but deep down lay the truth that we would never really come across one.

If only life today was as simple as in a comic book. Chances are you’re not going to find people sporting a costume of some sort with an incredible knack for saving the world with just moments to spare.

You’re also not going to find modern-day villains who are easily identifiable by their broken moral compass and distinguished evil laugh.

Sadly in life, the heroes and the villains are a little less conspicuous. The lines are often blurred when it comes to good and evil and you’ll come across people who are always good, those who are always bad and those left in the middle.

But thanks to a few ordinary people doing extraordinary things, we could meet a superhero after all.

Chances are, regardless of where you live in the world, you have come into contact with the video clip that emerged this week that showed the city of Paris has its own Spider-man.

Mamoudou Gassama, 22, was going about his day when he came across a four-year-old boy hanging from a fourth-floor balcony. Gassama heroicly scaled the outside of the apartment building to rescue the child and the selfless act was captured on film by a bystander.

Soon afterward, the clip went viral around the world. Gassama was invited to meet France’s President Emmanuel Macron and commended for his bravery.

If you are left wondering where the boy’s parents were at the time of the incident and how the child ended up in such a precarious situation, you are not alone with your thoughts.

It seems the father of the toddler had left his son alone in the flat while he had gone to the shops for a few groceries, only to be caught up in a mobile game of Pokemon go.

The little boy’s mother and younger sibling were in Reunion at the time.

The father was taken into custody but has since been released and will appear in court in September to face a charge of child neglect. He could face up to two years in prison or a fine of up to €30 000 (R437 000).

Macron rewarded Gassama for his selfless act by invoking an old tradition steeped in the city’s civil code: fast-track citizenship.

The procedure allows for a foreigner to be granted citizenship if she or he has “performed exceptional services for France, or whose naturalisation would be of exceptional interest for France”.

He was also awarded a medal for courage and offered a role in the fire service.

For Macron, the act was indeed exceptional and might benefit not just the little boy or France but for the rest of the world as well.

Gassama has proven that superheroes really do exist and they walk among us.

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