If things like heroism, bravery, passion, and integrity, are optional in a man's life, why then are boys so drawn to them in their first years?

While we were growing up, we loved films, comic books and tales of heroism, stories about heroic men, superheroes who, facing fearsome enemies and overcoming great odds, come to the rescue of those in need...

Men who are dangerous, but good.Men who serve a cause greater than themselves.

Men who are not fighting out of hatred for the enemy but out of love for justice and peace.

Men who are gallant, kind, compassionate, and gracious.

Men who are willing to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of those around them.

Men who are always faithful to their hearts, their beliefs, their honor, and the honor of those they love.

Sadly, however, with the coming of adulthood those heroes of childhood begin to look, for most of us at least, a bit out of touch with the real world, a bit outdated, a bit naive...

And so we put the comic books in the attic; we throw the old VHS tapes in the old basket full of old things; we give the plastic swords to our little nephew. We take the memory of the valiant men we once so loved -- Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Zorro, King Arthur, William Wallace -- and we coldly remove it from our lives.

We bury the heroes of our childhood. We lay them to rest, together with that part of us that loved them.

Alas, this part is one that we would one day need: the part that the world would one day need. That is the part of us that is strong and fierce, which hates evil and is ready to stand up for good...

We have all become less than what we could be; and we can all become more than who we are.

https://www.menscorner.co.uk/post/man-s-deeper-nature-courage