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This is a good, powerful piece. People do hurt each other without good reasons, and sometimes there's nothing anyone can do.

Totally agree with Annie. So powerfully written, Feli. Really, when you think about it, it is quite gruesome just what Clark sees as Superman on a daily basis. How that must effect him. How he must always wonder if what he does is enough...makes that difference he is trying to make.

Good job . Very emotional piece...
Laura

I could totally picture Clark/Superman sitting on top of some old building with his arms around himself wallowing in self-pity. Kind of like that horrible image from Seconds after Wanda runs off with Lex Luthor, only with Clark in a downpour. Very sad. It must be hard for Clark to have all this power and still not be able to save the innocent. It only goes to show how important Lois is to him to be there to remind him that he IS making a difference.

I'm in awe of how you're able to tug at my heartstrings with so few words.

By the time he heard the shots the deed was done. Why on earth would he think he could have saved them? It's a tragedy, but he didn't know it was going to happen. He wouldn't have known what the shots indicated until he got to the source.
Family members and friends will feel guilt that they didn't do anything, but why would Superman?

The lives that Clark does save? I would like to think that they realize what a precious gift he has given them and in gratitude, they pay it forward.

Thus are planted the seeds of Utopia.

Just a thought ...

Sorry this has taken so long...

I wrote this piece when I was in a very dark mood... a local teenager who had been missing for 2 weeks had just been found murdered and it just capped off an already depressing week. But anyway...

Annie- You're so right! Sometimes there's nothing anyone can do, but I can just see Clark obsessing over the ones he couldn't/didn't save.

Laura- Being a superhero definitely isn't all wine and roses. The powers would be cool, but I think you'd have to be a very strong person to cope- and I don't mean just physically strong.

Virginia- Uh, thanks

RJS- It's not necessarily guilt that he's feeling, but more despair that no matter what he does, he can't save everyone. Yes, by the time the shots had been fired it was too late for him (or anyone else) to do anything, but that's never stopped Clark from being depressed about something like this before. I can think of two examples off the top of my head... Dr Platt's death in the Pilot, and the drive-by shooting in Neverending Battle.

Morgana- I like your take on the founding of Utopia

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read and comment on this

Hi NostalgiaKick!

Yeah, it’s kind of a downer. But it does fit the daily news
My first thought was, Lex’s yacht?

I can see those words perfectly. And want to smack him over the head for them. Then again, maybe Lois should. She could hug him afterwards.

Michael